Abstract
The complete chloroplast (cp) genome sequence of Rheum wittrockii, an endangered and medicinal plant of Kazakhstan, was firstly determined in the present study. It was 159,051 bp and contained a large single copy region (84,750 bp) and a small single copy region (12,999 bp) which were separated by two inverted repeat regions (30,651 bp). In total, 131 genes were identified and they were consisted of 79 coding genes, 8 rRNA genes, and 36 tRNA genes. rpl23 was pseudogenes due to sequence substitution. Among 23 genes containing introns, rps12 and ycf3 contained two introns and the rest had just one intron. Comparing to Chinese R. palmatum chloroplast genome, rpl32 and rpoA gene were shortened due to 1bp and 7bp deletion at poly-T and poly-A, respectively.