Medicago truncatula
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| Medicago truncatula | ||||||||||||||||||
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Secure
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| Medicago truncatula Gaertn. |
Medicago truncatula (Barrel Medic or Barrel Medick or Barrel Clover) is a small legume native to the Mediterranean region. It is a low-growing clover-like plant 10-60 cm tall with trifoliate leaves, each leaflet rounded, 1-2 cm long, often with a dark spot in the centre. The flowers are yellow, produced singly or in a small inflorescence of 2-5 together; the fruit is a small spiny pod.
M. truncatula has been chosen as a model organism for legume biology. It has a small diploid genome, is self-fertile, has a rapid generation time and prolific seed production, and is also amenable to genetic transformation. The genome of M. truncatula is currently being sequenced.
It forms symbioses with nitrogen-fixing rhizobia Sinorhizobium meliloti and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. The model plant Arabidopsis thaliana does not form either symbiosis, making M. truncatula an important tool for studying these processes.
It is also an important forage crop species in Australia.
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