The plastid genome of the red alga Laurencia. Laurencia plastid genome

We present the 174,935 nt long plastid genome of the red alga Laurencia sp. JFC0032. It is the third plastid genome characterized for the largest order of red algae (Ceramiales). The circular-mapping plastid genome is small compared to most florideophyte red algae, and our comparisons show a trend towards smaller plastid genome sizes in the family Rhodomelaceae, independent from a similar trend in Cyanidiophyceae. The Laurencia genome is densely packed with 200 annotated protein-coding genes (188 widely conserved, 3 ORFs shared with other red algae and 9 hypothetical coding regions). It has 29 tRNAs, a single-copy ribosomal RNA cistron, a tmRNA and the RNase P RNA.