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Medicago truncatula
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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, it 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.