A genetic linkage map is a valuable tool for quantitative trait locus mapping, map-based gene cloning, comparative mapping, and whole-genome assembly. Alfalfa, one of the most important forage crops in the world, is autotetraploid, allogamous, and highly heterozygous, characteristics that have impeded the construction of a high-density linkage map using traditional genetic marker systems. Using...

Legume crops present important agronomical and environmental advantages mainly due to their capacity to reduce atmospheric N2 to ammonium via symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF). This process is very sensitive to abiotic stresses such as drought, but the mechanism underlying this response is not fully understood. The goal of the current work is to compare the drought response of two legumes with ...

Spatiotemporal changes in cellular calcium (Ca2+) concentrations are essential for signal transduction in a wide range of plant cellular processes. In legumes, nuclear and perinuclear-localized Ca2+ oscillations have emerged as key signatures preceding downstream symbiotic signaling responses. Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) yellow-based Ca2+ cameleon probes have been successfully expl...

In the current context of food security, increase of plant protein production in a sustainable manner represents one of the major challenges of agronomic research, which could be partially resolved by increased cultivation of legume crops. Medicago truncatula is now a well-established model for legume genomic and genetic studies. With the establishment of genomics tools and mutant populations i...

Experimental infections of six riverbank populations of Galba truncatula with Fasciola hepatica were carried out to determine if the poor susceptibility of these populations to this digenean might be due to the scarcity or the absence of natural encounters between these snails and the parasite. The first three populations originated from banks frequented by cattle in the past (riverbank group) ...

We report the first genetic linkage map of white lupin (Lupinus albus L.). An F8 recombinant inbred line population developed from Kiev mutant x P27174 was mapped with 220 amplified fragment length polymorphism and 105 gene-based markers. The genetic map consists of 28 main linkage groups (LGs) that varied in length from 22.7 cM to 246.5 cM and spanned a total length of 2951 cM. There were seve...

Host compatible rhizobia induce the formation of legume root nodules, symbiotic organs within which intracellular bacteria are present in plant-derived membrane compartments termed symbiosomes. In Medicago truncatula nodules, the Sinorhizobium microsymbionts undergo an irreversible differentiation process leading to the development of elongated polyploid noncultivable nitrogen fixing bacteroids...

The ability to move DNA into an organism and thereby alter its phenotype is central to both basic and applied molecular biology. Transformation is a simple task with Escherichia coli or Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but is usually more difficult with multicellular eukaryotes and can be particularly challenging with some important plant species. However, for Arabidopsis, in planta transformation met...

This study of functional diversity considers symbiotic associations between two plant species, Medicago truncatula and Lycopersicon esculentum, and seven species of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). The objective was to integrate physiological analyses with molecular techniques to test whether functional diversity between AMF species is not only apparent at the level of mycorrhiza formation, ...

Legumes are simultaneously one of the largest families of crop plants and a cornerstone in the biological nitrogen cycle. We combined molecular and phylogenetic analyses to evaluate genome conservation both within and between the two major clades of crop legumes. Genetic mapping of orthologous genes identifies broad conservation of genome macrostructure, especially within the galegoid legumes, ...