Saponins, an important group of bioactive plant natural products, are glycosides of triterpenoid or steroidal aglycones (sapogenins). Saponins possess many biological activities, including conferring potential health benefits for humans. However, most of the steps specific for the biosynthesis of triterpene saponins remain uncharacterized at the molecular level. Here, we use comprehensive gene ...

The present study, investigated some reproductive and fertility parameters in some wild populations, originating from the North Tunisia (4 populations of Medicago ciliaris and 3 populations of Medicago intertexta). Previous finding revealed that these species are genetically distinct and easily recognized by the number of flowers per inflorescence and pod dimensions. However, biometrical traits...

Alfalfa (scientific name Medicago sativa L.), also called lucerne, is the “king of forages”. Its wild relatives (Medicago spp.) are distributed in vast regions, from Spain to China and from Sweden to North Africa. Alfalfa has a cultivation history of more than 4000 years. It was first cultivated in Iran, Turkmenistan and Caucasus in 2000 BC as verified by archaeological evidence, and in Babylon...

We report the draft genome sequence of Streptomyces sp. M1013, a strain isolated from the Medicago arborea rhizosphere in Izmir, Turkey. An average nucleotide identity (ANI) analysis reveals that this strain belongs to the same species as Streptomyces canus ATCC12647 and is closely related to Streptomyces ambofaciens and Streptomyces coelicolor.

Plant small RNAs are subject to various modifications. Previous reports revealed widespread 3' modifications (truncations and non-templated tailing) of plant miRNAs when the 2'-O-methyltransferase HEN1 is absent. However, non-templated nucleotides in plant heterochromatic siRNAs have not been deeply studied, especially in wild-type plants. We systematically studied non-templated nucleotide patt...

Disease outbreaks due to the consumption of legume seedlings contaminated with human enteric bacterial pathogens like Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica are reported every year. Besides contaminations occurring during food processing, pathogens present on the surface or interior of plant tissues are also responsible for such outbreaks. In the present study, surface and internal co...

Fall dormancy (FD) is an adaptive trait in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). It appeared in the regrowth process in late summer or early autumn after alfalfa was harvested. FD affects the biomass accumulation and winter survival in high latitude area. However, the molecular mechanism under FD is still not clear at present. Performing RNA-seq of fall dormant and nondormant alfalfa varieties at diffe...

Ensifer medicae WSM1369 is an aerobic, motile, Gram-negative, non-spore-forming rod that can exist as a soil saprophyte or as a legume microsymbiont of Medicago. WSM1369 was isolated in 1993 from a nodule recovered from the roots of Medicago sphaerocarpos growing at San Pietro di Rudas, near Aggius in Sardinia (Italy). WSM1369 is an effective microsymbiont of the annual forage legumes M. polymo...

Saponins, an important group of bioactive plant natural products, are glycosides of triterpenoid or steroidal aglycones (sapogenins). Saponins possess many biological activities, including conferring potential health benefits for humans. However, most of the steps specific for the biosynthesis of triterpene saponins remain uncharacterized at the molecular level. Here, we use comprehensive gene ...

Aux/IAA genes play a pivotal role in auxin transcriptional regulation. Their functions were mainly studied in Arabidopsis through analysis of gain-of-function mutants. In the tomato, the Solanaceae reference species, different studies on Sl-IAA down-regulated lines showed specific role for Sl-IAA genes. Our recent work revealed that the Sl-IAA 27 gene displays a distinct behavior compared with ...