Reference "The Medicago genome provides insight into the evolution of rhizobial symbioses"

Reference ID

54959

Title

The Medicago genome provides insight into the evolution of rhizobial symbioses

Source

Nature, 2011, vol. 480, pp. 520-524

Authors (124)

Young-N-D	Debelle-F	Oldroyd-G-E	Geurts-R	Cannon-S-B	Udvardi-M-K	Benedito-V-A	Mayer-K-F	Gouzy-J	Schoof-H	Van-de-Peer-Y	Proost-S
Cook-D-R	Meyers-B-C	Spannagl-M	Cheung-F	De-Mita-S	Krishnakumar-V	Gundlach-H	Zhou-S	Mudge-J	Bharti-A-K	Murray-J-D	Naoumkina-M-A
Rosen-B	Silverstein-K-A	Tang-H	Rombauts-S	Zhao-P-X	Zhou-P	Barbe-V	Bardou-P	Bechner-M	Bellec-A	Berger-A	Berges-H
Bidwell-S	Bisseling-T	Choisne-N	Couloux-A	Denny-R	Deshpande-S	Dai-X	Doyle-J-J	Dudez-A-M	Farmer-A-D	Fouteau-S	Franken-C
Gibelin-C	Gish-J	Goldstein-S	Gonzalez-A-J	Green-P-J	Hallab-A	Hartog-M	Hua-A	Humphray-S-J	Jeong-D-H	Jing-Y	Jocker-A
Kenton-S-M	Kim-D-J	Klee-K	Lai-H	Lang-C	Lin-S	Macmil-S-L	Magdelenat-G	Matthews-L	McCorrison-J	Monaghan-E-L	Mun-J-H
Najar-F-Z	Nicholson-C	Noirot-C	O'Bleness-M	Paule-C-R	Poulain-J	Prion-F	Qin-B	Qu-C	Retzel-E-F	Riddle-C	Sallet-E
Samain-S	Samson-N	Sanders-I	Saurat-O	Scarpelli-C	Schiex-T	Segurens-B	Severin-A-J	Sherrier-D-J	Shi-R	Sims-S	Singer-S-R
Sinharoy-S	Sterck-L	Viollet-A	Wang-B-B	Wang-K	Wang-M	Wang-X	Warfsmann-J	Weissenbach-J	White-D-D	White-J-D	Wiley-G-B
Wincker-P	Xing-Y	Yang-L	Yao-Z	Ying-F	Zhai-J	Zhou-L	Zuber-A	Denarie-J	Dixon-R-A	May-G-D	Schwartz-D-C
Rogers-J	Quetier-F	Town-C-D	Roe-B-A

Abstract

Legumes (Fabaceae or Leguminosae) are unique among cultivated plants for their
ability to carry out endosymbiotic nitrogen fixation with rhizobial bacteria, a
process that takes place in a specialized structure known as the nodule. Legumes
belong to one of the two main groups of eurosids, the Fabidae, which includes
most species capable of endosymbiotic nitrogen fixation. Legumes comprise
several evolutionary lineages derived from a common ancestor 60 million years
ago (Myr ago). Papilionoids are the largest clade, dating nearly to the origin
of legumes and containing most cultivated species. Medicago truncatula is a long-
established model for the study of legume biology. Here we describe the draft
sequence of the M. truncatula euchromatin based on a recently completed BAC
assembly supplemented with Illumina shotgun sequence, together capturing
approximately 94% of all M. truncatula genes. A whole-genome duplication (WGD)
approximately 58 Myr ago had a major role in shaping the M. truncatula genome
and thereby contributed to the evolution of endosymbiotic nitrogen fixation.
Subsequent to the WGD, the M. truncatula genome experienced higher levels of
rearrangement than two other sequenced legumes, Glycine max and Lotus japonicus.
M. truncatula is a close relative of alfalfa (Medicago sativa), a widely
cultivated crop with limited genomics tools and complex autotetraploid genetics.
As such, the M. truncatula genome sequence provides significant opportunities to
expand alfalfa's genomic toolbox.