Abstract
Background
The genus Barringtonia (Lecythidaceae) is a vital component of tropical coastal forests and mangrove ecosystems. Among its members, B. racemosa and B. fusicarpa are classified as Endangered and Vulnerable, respectively, due to habitat degradation and anthropogenic pressures, underscoring the urgent need for genetic studies to guide conservation. Chloroplast (cp.) genomes serve as essential resources for phylogenetic reconstruction and conservation genetics. However, the scarcity of cp. genome data for Barringtonia has limited comprehensive evolutionary and conservation-oriented investigations.Results
We assembled and annotated the first complete cp. genomes of B. racemosa, B. fusicarpa, and B. acutangula. All three genomes exhibit the typical quadripartite structure, ranging from 158,959 bp (B. racemosa) to 159,837 bp (B. acutangula), and contain 132 genes (87 protein-coding, 37 tRNA, 8 rRNA) with a GC content of 36.68%-36.86%. Collinearity and IR boundary analyses revealed high structural conservation without large-scale rearrangements. Interspecific sequence-level variations were detected in simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and long repeats. Nucleotide diversity (π) analysis identified highly polymorphic regions, including rpl20 (π = 0.080), rpoA (π = 0.064), rps3 (π = 0.063), and ndhF (π = 0.060), which represent promising molecular markers for population genetics within the genus. Codon-based selection analyses (Ka/Ks) showed that all protein-coding genes are under strong purifying selection (mean Ka/Ks 0.32-0.37), with no evidence of positive selection. Pairwise genetic distances (p-distances) among Barringtonia species are extremely low (mean 0.0046), while distances to the related genus Bertholletia are ~ 6-fold higher, supporting their generic distinction.Conclusions
Phylogenetic analysis robustly supports Barringtonia as a monophyletic clade (bootstrap = 100%), with B. racemosa and B. fusicarpa forming a sister lineage to B. acutangula. This study provides the first high-quality cp. genome resources for the two threatened Barringtonia species, revealing strong structural and sequence conservation but no direct chloroplast genomic correlates of endangerment. The identified polymorphic regions and repeat markers lay a foundation for future population genetics, phylogeographic studies, and conservation-oriented genetic management of these ecologically important coastal plants.