The LEED..PEED (LP) gene family in Medicago truncatula (A17) is composed of 13 genes coding small putatively secreted peptides with one to two conserved domains of negatively charged residues. This family is not present in the genomes of Glycine max, Lotus japonicus, or the IRLC species Cicer arietinum. LP genes were also not detected in a Trifolium pratense draft genome or Pisum sativum nodule...

MOTIVATION There is an imperative need to integrate functional genomics data to obtain a more comprehensive systems-biology view of the results. We believe that this is best achieved through the visualization of data within the biological context of metabolic pathways. Accordingly, metabolic pathway reconstruction was used to predict the metabolic composition for Medicago truncatula and these p...

The mutagenic effects of low-energy ions have been identified by genetic studies for decades. Due to the short penetration distance of ions, however, the underlying mechanism(s) is still not quite clarified. Recently, increasing data have been accumulated concerning the existence and manifestation of radiation induced bystander/abscopal effects in vivo in the whole-organism environment. In this...

Oligomeric proanthocyanidins (PAs) composed primarily of epicatechin units accumulate in the seed coats of the model legume Medicago truncatula, reaching maximal levels at around 20 d after pollination. Genes encoding the single Medicago anthocyanidin synthase (ANS; EC 1.14.11.19) and leucoanthocyanidin reductase (LAR; EC 1.17.1.3) were cloned and the corresponding enzymes functionally identifi...

Plant and soil types are usually considered as the two main drivers of the rhizosphere microbial communities. The aim of this work was to study the effect of both N availability and plant genotype on the plant associated rhizosphere microbial communities, in relation to the nutritional strategies of the plant-microbe interactions, for six contrasted Medicago truncatula genotypes. The plants wer...

BACKGROUND The ability to induce flowering on demand is of significant biotechnological interest. FT protein has been recently identified as an important component of the mobile flowering hormone, florigen, whose function is conserved across the plant kingdom. We therefore focused on manipulation of both endogenous and heterologous FT genes to develop a floral induction system where flowering w...

In the establishment of symbiosis between Medicago truncatula and the nitrogen-fixing bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti, the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of the microsymbiont plays an important role as a signal molecule. It has been shown in cell cultures that the LPS is able to suppress an elicitor-induced oxidative burst. To investigate the effect of S. meliloti LPS on defense-associated gene expr...

Medicago truncatula is a fast-emerging model for the study of legume functional biology. We used the tobacco retrotransposon Tnt1 to tag the Medicago genome and generated over 7600 independent lines representing an estimated 190,000 insertion events. Tnt1 inserted on average at 25 different locations per genome during tissue culture, and insertions were stable during subsequent generations in s...

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 ...