Vigna minima, a wild legume belonging to the genus Vigna within Fabaceae, is broadly distributed across East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania and is phylogenetically close to cultivated species such as V. angularis var. angularis (adzuki bean) and V. umbellata (rice bean). Although closely related to cultivated species, V. minima remains comparatively poorly studied. Here, we assembled and analyzed the complete plastid genome (plastome) of V. minima to establish genomic resources for the species and to clarify its phylogenetic position within Vigna. The plastome was 151,844 bp in length, exhibited a typical quadripartite structure, and had a guanine-cytosine (GC) content of 35.2%. It has 127 genes, consisting of 82 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes. In terms of its genome size, GC content, and gene composition, the plastome was very similar to those of other species within the genus Vigna. Despite this overall structural conservation, notable sequence variations were detected in the regions accD and ycf1, which are known plastome variation hotspots in legumes. A phylogenetic analysis based on the complete plastome revealed that V. minima and V. umbellata form a strongly supported monophyletic group, which is a sister to V. angularis var. angularis. Given its close phylogenetic relationship to cultivated Vigna species and the conserved plastome structure observed across the genus, V. minima represents a potential future crop, and this study provides new plastome resource for the species.
Kim et al. (2026) studied this question.