TY  - JOUR
TI  - The Medicago genome provides insight into the evolution of rhizobial symbioses
AU  - Nevin D. Young
AU  - Frédéric Debellé
AU  - Giles Oldroyd
AU  - René Geurts
AU  - Steven B. Cannon
AU  - Michael K. Udvardi
AU  - Vagner A. Benedito
AU  - Klaus Mayer
AU  - Jérôme Gouzy
AU  - Heiko Schoof
AU  - Yves Van de Peer
AU  - Sebastian Proost
AU  - Douglas R. Cook
AU  - Blake C. Meyers
AU  - M. Spannagl
AU  - Foo Cheung
AU  - Stéphane De Mita
AU  - Vivek Krishnakumar
AU  - Heidrun Gundlach
AU  - Shiguo Zhou
AU  - Joann Mudge
AU  - Arvind K. Bharti
AU  - Jeremy D. Murray
AU  - Marina Naoumkina
AU  - Benjamin D. Rosen
AU  - Kevin A.T. Silverstein
AU  - Haibao Tang
AU  - Stéphane Rombauts
AU  - Patrick X. Zhao
AU  - Peng Zhou
AU  - Valérie Barbe
AU  - Philippe Bardou
AU  - Michael Bechner
AU  - Arnaud Bellec
AU  - Anne Berger
AU  - Hélène Bergès
AU  - Shelby Bidwell
AU  - Ton Bisseling
AU  - Nathalie Choisne
AU  - Arnaud Couloux
AU  - Roxanne Denny
AU  - Shweta Deshpande
AU  - Xinbin Dai
AU  - Jeff J. Doyle
AU  - Anne-Marie Dudez
AU  - Andrew Farmer
AU  - Stéphanie Fouteau
AU  - Carolien Franken
AU  - Chrystel Gibelin
AU  - John Gish
AU  - Steven Goldstein
AU  - Álvaro González
AU  - Pamela J. Green
AU  - Asis Hallab
AU  - Marijke Hartog
AU  - Axin Hua
AU  - Sean Humphray
AU  - Dong-Hoon Jeong
AU  - Yi Jing
AU  - Anika Jöcker
AU  - Steve Kenton
AU  - Dong-Jin Kim
AU  - Kathrin Klee
AU  - Hongshing Lai
AU  - Chunting Lang
AU  - Shaoping Lin
AU  - Simone L. Macmil
AU  - Ghislaine Magdelenat
AU  - Lucy Matthews
AU  - Jamison McCorrison
AU  - Erin L. Monaghan
AU  - Jeong‐Hwan Mun
AU  - Fares Z. Najar
AU  - Christine Nicholson
AU  - Céline Noirot
AU  - Majesta O’Bleness
AU  - Charles R. Paule
AU  - Julie Poulain
AU  - Florent Prion
AU  - Baifang Qin
AU  - Chunmei Qu
AU  - Ernest F. Retzel
AU  - Claire Riddle
AU  - Erika Sallet
AU  - Sylvie Samain
AU  - Nicolas Samson
AU  - Iryna Sanders
AU  - Olivier Saurat
AU  - Claude Scarpelli
AU  - Thomas Schiex
AU  - Béatrice Segurens
AU  - Andrew Severin
AU  - D. Janine Sherrier
AU  - Ruihua Shi
AU  - Sarah Sims
AU  - Susan R. Singer
AU  - Senjuti Sinharoy
AU  - Lieven Sterck
AU  - Agnès Viollet
AU  - Bing Bing Wang
PY  - 2011
JO  - Nature
DO  - 10.1038/nature10625
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10625
AB  - Sequencing of Medicago truncatula, a model organism of legume biology, shows that genome duplications had a role in the evolution of endosymbiotic nitrogen fixation. Legumes are unusual among plants in that they can carry out endosymbiotic nitrogen fixation with rhizobial bacteria. The genome of Medicago truncatula (also known as barrel medic or barrel clover), a well-established model for the study of legume biology, has now been sequenced. Genome analysis shows that M. truncatula has undergone several rounds of whole-genome duplication, and that the duplication that took place approximately 58 million years ago played an important part in the evolution of endosymbiotic nitrogen fixation. 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 fixation1. 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 species2. 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 ∼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.
ER  -