Complete Chloroplast Genome of Paphiopedilum delenatii and Phylogenetic Relationships among Orchidaceae

is a native orchid of Vietnam with highly attractive floral traits. Unfortunately, it is now listed as a critically endangered species with a few hundred individuals remaining in nature. In this study, we performed next-generation sequencing of and assembled its complete chloroplast genome. The whole chloroplast genome of was 160,955 bp in size, 35.6% of which was GC content, and exhibited typical quadripartite structure of plastid genomes with four distinct regions, including the large and small single-copy regions and a pair of inverted repeat regions. There were, in total, 130 genes annotated in the genome: 77 coding genes, 39 tRNA genes, 8 rRNA genes, and 6 pseudogenes. The loss of genes and variation in inverted repeat (IR) boundaries as well as data of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and divergent hotspots provided useful information for identification applications and phylogenetic studies of species. Whole chloroplast genomes could be used as an effective super barcode for species identification or for developing other identification markers, which subsequently serves the conservation of species.