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<p><em><strong>Medicago truncatula</strong></em> (<strong>Barrel Medic</strong> or <strong>Barrel Medick</strong> or <strong>Barrel Clover</strong>) 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 center. The flowers are yellow, produced singly or in a small inflorescence of 2-5 together; the fruit is a small spiny pod.</p>
<p><em>M. truncatula</em> 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 <em>M. truncatula</em> is currently being sequenced.</p>
<p>It forms symbioses with nitrogen-fixing rhizobia (<em>Sinorhizobium meliloti</em> and <em>Sinorhizobium medicae</em>) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. The model plant <em>Arabidopsis thaliana</em> does not form either symbiosis, making <em>M. truncatula</em> an important tool for studying these processes.</p>
<p>It is also an important forage crop species in Australia.</p>
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<h2><span class="mw-headline">Medicago Truncatula Sequencing Consortium</span></h2>
<p>The Medicago Truncatula Sequencing Consortium is an international partnership of research laboratories that is decoding the genome sequence of <em>Medicago truncatula</em>, a model legume species. Legumes are a family of plants, including soybean, alfalfa and bean, which form ecologically important symbioses with bacteria (rhizobia) and fungi (mycorrhiza). Knowing the sequence of the <em>Medicago truncatula</em> genome is expected to facilitate genomics research in legumes, especially the biology of symbiosis because <em>Medicago truncatula</em> and its symbiotic partner, <em>Sinorhizobium meliloti</em>, are frequently used as models for symbiosis research.</p>
<p>Sequencing in <em>Medicago truncatula</em> is taking place at the University of Oklahoma (US), J. Craig Venter Institute (US), Genoscope (France), and Sanger Centre (UK). Partner institutions include the University of Minnesota (US), University of California-Davis (US), the National Center for Genomic Resources (NCGR) (US) , John Innes Centre (UK), Institut National de Recherche Agronomique (France), Munich Information Center for Protein Sequences (MIPS) (Germany), Wageningen University (Netherlands), and Ghent University (Belgium). The <em>Medicago truncatula</em> Sequencing Consortium began in 2001 with a seed grant from the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation. In 2003, the National Science Foundation and the European Union 6th Framework Programme began providing most of the funding. The majority of the gene-containing portion of the <em>Medicago truncatula</em> genome is expected to be complete by the end of 2008.</p>
<p>Sequencing in <em>Medicago truncatula</em> is based on bacterial artificial chromosomes. This is the same approach used in human and in a small number of reference genomes like fruitfly, <em>Drosophila melanogaster</em>, and the model plant, <em>Arabidopsis thaliana</em>. The technique is slower, but typically more accurate, than the now more common approach known as Shotgun sequencing.</p>
<p>A parallel group known as the International <em>Medicago</em> Gene Annotation Group (IMGAG) is responsible for identifying and describing putative gene sequences within the genome sequence.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline">See also</span></h2>
<ul>
<li>Genomics </li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline">Gallery</span></h2>
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<div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 33px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 150px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 33px" class="thumb">
<div style="WIDTH: 120px; MARGIN-LEFT: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: auto"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/Medicago_truncatula_A17_flower.JPG/120px-Medicago_truncatula_A17_flower.JPG" width="120" height="80" /></div>
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<p>Flower magnified 4.5 times</p>
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<div style="WIDTH: 120px; MARGIN-LEFT: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: auto"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Medicago_truncatula_A17_pods.JPG/120px-Medicago_truncatula_A17_pods.JPG" width="120" height="80" /></div>
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<p>Ecotype A17 seed pods</p>
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<div style="WIDTH: 120px; MARGIN-LEFT: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: auto"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3c/Medicago_truncatula_A20_pods.JPG/120px-Medicago_truncatula_A20_pods.JPG" width="120" height="80" /></div>
</div>
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<p>Ecotype A20 seed pods</p>
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<div style="WIDTH: 120px; MARGIN-LEFT: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: auto"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Metr11_001_lhp.jpg/120px-Metr11_001_lhp.jpg" width="120" height="80" /></div>
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<p>Seed pod</p>
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<div style="WIDTH: 120px; MARGIN-LEFT: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: auto"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Medicago_truncatula_A17_seeds.JPG/120px-Medicago_truncatula_A17_seeds.JPG" width="120" height="80" /></div>
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<div class="gallerytext">
<p>Ecotype A17 seeds</p>
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<div style="WIDTH: 120px; MARGIN-LEFT: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: auto"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/Medicago_truncatula_A20_seeds.JPG/120px-Medicago_truncatula_A20_seeds.JPG" width="120" height="80" /></div>
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<p>Ecotype A20 seeds</p>
</div>
</div>
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<div style="WIDTH: 155px" class="gallerybox">
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<div style="WIDTH: 120px; MARGIN-LEFT: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: auto"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b5/Metr10_001_lhp.jpg/120px-Metr10_001_lhp.jpg" width="120" height="80" /></div>
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<p>Seeds</p>
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<p> </p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline">External links</span></h2>
<ul>
<li><a class="external text" title="http://www.medicago.org/" href="http://www.medicago.org/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">The Medicago truncatula Consortium</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external text" title="http://www.ccrc.uga.edu/personnel/hahn/mtimages.htm" href="http://www.ccrc.uga.edu/personnel/hahn/mtimages.htm" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">Images of M. truncatula</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external text" title="http://www.tigr.org/tdb/e2k1/mta1/" href="http://www.tigr.org/tdb/e2k1/mta1/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">TIGR's link to Genome Browser and Gene Index</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external text" title="http://bioinfo.noble.org/gene-atlas" href="http://bioinfo.noble.org/gene-atlas" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">The Medicago Gene Atlas at Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external text" title="http://www.montpellier.inra.fr/BRC-MTR/" href="http://www.montpellier.inra.fr/BRC-MTR/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">INRA Medicago truncatula Stock Center - France</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external free" title="http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/101/43/15289" href="http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/101/43/15289" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/101/43/15289</font></a><br />
Cannon et al. (2006) Proceedings National Academy Sciences USA, 103:14959-14964. </li>
<li><a class="external free" title="http://www.medicago.org/genome/" href="http://www.medicago.org/genome/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">http://www.medicago.org/genome/</font></a><br />
website for US component of the Medicago truncatula Sequencing Project </li>
<li><a class="external free" title="http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/content/full/137/4/1174" href="http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/content/full/137/4/1174" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/content/full/137/4/1174</font></a><br />
Young et al. (2005) Plant Physiology 137: 1174-1181. </li>
<li><a class="external free" title="http://www.ncgr.org/" href="http://www.ncgr.org/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">http://www.ncgr.org/</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external free" title="http://www.medicago.org/genome/IMGAG/" href="http://www.medicago.org/genome/IMGAG/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">http://www.medicago.org/genome/IMGAG/</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external free" title="http://www.noble.org/" href="http://www.noble.org/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">http://www.noble.org/</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external free" title="http://medicago.toulouse.inra.fr/" href="http://medicago.toulouse.inra.fr/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">http://medicago.toulouse.inra.fr/</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external free" title="http://mips.gsf.de/proj/plant/jsf/medi/index.jsp" href="http://mips.gsf.de/proj/plant/jsf/medi/index.jsp" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">http://mips.gsf.de/proj/plant/jsf/medi/index.jsp</font></a></li>
</ul>
<p><em>M. truncatula</em> 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 <em>M. truncatula</em> is currently being sequenced.</p>
<p>It forms symbioses with nitrogen-fixing rhizobia (<em>Sinorhizobium meliloti</em> and <em>Sinorhizobium medicae</em>) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. The model plant <em>Arabidopsis thaliana</em> does not form either symbiosis, making <em>M. truncatula</em> an important tool for studying these processes.</p>
<p>It is also an important forage crop species in Australia.</p>
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//<![CDATA[
if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = "show"; var tocHideText = "hide"; showTocToggle(); }
//]]>
</script>
<p> </p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline">Medicago Truncatula Sequencing Consortium</span></h2>
<p>The Medicago Truncatula Sequencing Consortium is an international partnership of research laboratories that is decoding the genome sequence of <em>Medicago truncatula</em>, a model legume species. Legumes are a family of plants, including soybean, alfalfa and bean, which form ecologically important symbioses with bacteria (rhizobia) and fungi (mycorrhiza). Knowing the sequence of the <em>Medicago truncatula</em> genome is expected to facilitate genomics research in legumes, especially the biology of symbiosis because <em>Medicago truncatula</em> and its symbiotic partner, <em>Sinorhizobium meliloti</em>, are frequently used as models for symbiosis research.</p>
<p>Sequencing in <em>Medicago truncatula</em> is taking place at the University of Oklahoma (US), J. Craig Venter Institute (US), Genoscope (France), and Sanger Centre (UK). Partner institutions include the University of Minnesota (US), University of California-Davis (US), the National Center for Genomic Resources (NCGR) (US) , John Innes Centre (UK), Institut National de Recherche Agronomique (France), Munich Information Center for Protein Sequences (MIPS) (Germany), Wageningen University (Netherlands), and Ghent University (Belgium). The <em>Medicago truncatula</em> Sequencing Consortium began in 2001 with a seed grant from the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation. In 2003, the National Science Foundation and the European Union 6th Framework Programme began providing most of the funding. The majority of the gene-containing portion of the <em>Medicago truncatula</em> genome is expected to be complete by the end of 2008.</p>
<p>Sequencing in <em>Medicago truncatula</em> is based on bacterial artificial chromosomes. This is the same approach used in human and in a small number of reference genomes like fruitfly, <em>Drosophila melanogaster</em>, and the model plant, <em>Arabidopsis thaliana</em>. The technique is slower, but typically more accurate, than the now more common approach known as Shotgun sequencing.</p>
<p>A parallel group known as the International <em>Medicago</em> Gene Annotation Group (IMGAG) is responsible for identifying and describing putative gene sequences within the genome sequence.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline">See also</span></h2>
<ul>
<li>Genomics </li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline">Gallery</span></h2>
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="gallery">
<tbody>
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<td>
<div style="WIDTH: 155px" class="gallerybox">
<div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 33px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 150px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 33px" class="thumb">
<div style="WIDTH: 120px; MARGIN-LEFT: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: auto"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/Medicago_truncatula_A17_flower.JPG/120px-Medicago_truncatula_A17_flower.JPG" width="120" height="80" /></div>
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<p>Flower magnified 4.5 times</p>
</div>
</div>
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<div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 33px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 150px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 33px" class="thumb">
<div style="WIDTH: 120px; MARGIN-LEFT: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: auto"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Medicago_truncatula_A17_pods.JPG/120px-Medicago_truncatula_A17_pods.JPG" width="120" height="80" /></div>
</div>
<div class="gallerytext">
<p>Ecotype A17 seed pods</p>
</div>
</div>
</td>
<td>
<div style="WIDTH: 155px" class="gallerybox">
<div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 33px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 150px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 33px" class="thumb">
<div style="WIDTH: 120px; MARGIN-LEFT: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: auto"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3c/Medicago_truncatula_A20_pods.JPG/120px-Medicago_truncatula_A20_pods.JPG" width="120" height="80" /></div>
</div>
<div class="gallerytext">
<p>Ecotype A20 seed pods</p>
</div>
</div>
</td>
<td>
<div style="WIDTH: 155px" class="gallerybox">
<div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 33px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 150px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 33px" class="thumb">
<div style="WIDTH: 120px; MARGIN-LEFT: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: auto"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Metr11_001_lhp.jpg/120px-Metr11_001_lhp.jpg" width="120" height="80" /></div>
</div>
<div class="gallerytext">
<p>Seed pod</p>
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
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<td>
<div style="WIDTH: 155px" class="gallerybox">
<div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 33px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 150px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 33px" class="thumb">
<div style="WIDTH: 120px; MARGIN-LEFT: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: auto"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Medicago_truncatula_A17_seeds.JPG/120px-Medicago_truncatula_A17_seeds.JPG" width="120" height="80" /></div>
</div>
<div class="gallerytext">
<p>Ecotype A17 seeds</p>
</div>
</div>
</td>
<td>
<div style="WIDTH: 155px" class="gallerybox">
<div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 33px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 150px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 33px" class="thumb">
<div style="WIDTH: 120px; MARGIN-LEFT: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: auto"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/Medicago_truncatula_A20_seeds.JPG/120px-Medicago_truncatula_A20_seeds.JPG" width="120" height="80" /></div>
</div>
<div class="gallerytext">
<p>Ecotype A20 seeds</p>
</div>
</div>
</td>
<td>
<div style="WIDTH: 155px" class="gallerybox">
<div style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 33px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 150px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 33px" class="thumb">
<div style="WIDTH: 120px; MARGIN-LEFT: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: auto"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b5/Metr10_001_lhp.jpg/120px-Metr10_001_lhp.jpg" width="120" height="80" /></div>
</div>
<div class="gallerytext">
<p>Seeds</p>
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline">External links</span></h2>
<ul>
<li><a class="external text" title="http://www.medicago.org/" href="http://www.medicago.org/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">The Medicago truncatula Consortium</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external text" title="http://www.ccrc.uga.edu/personnel/hahn/mtimages.htm" href="http://www.ccrc.uga.edu/personnel/hahn/mtimages.htm" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">Images of M. truncatula</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external text" title="http://www.tigr.org/tdb/e2k1/mta1/" href="http://www.tigr.org/tdb/e2k1/mta1/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">TIGR's link to Genome Browser and Gene Index</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external text" title="http://bioinfo.noble.org/gene-atlas" href="http://bioinfo.noble.org/gene-atlas" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">The Medicago Gene Atlas at Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external text" title="http://www.montpellier.inra.fr/BRC-MTR/" href="http://www.montpellier.inra.fr/BRC-MTR/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">INRA Medicago truncatula Stock Center - France</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external free" title="http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/101/43/15289" href="http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/101/43/15289" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/101/43/15289</font></a><br />
Cannon et al. (2006) Proceedings National Academy Sciences USA, 103:14959-14964. </li>
<li><a class="external free" title="http://www.medicago.org/genome/" href="http://www.medicago.org/genome/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">http://www.medicago.org/genome/</font></a><br />
website for US component of the Medicago truncatula Sequencing Project </li>
<li><a class="external free" title="http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/content/full/137/4/1174" href="http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/content/full/137/4/1174" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/content/full/137/4/1174</font></a><br />
Young et al. (2005) Plant Physiology 137: 1174-1181. </li>
<li><a class="external free" title="http://www.ncgr.org/" href="http://www.ncgr.org/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">http://www.ncgr.org/</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external free" title="http://www.medicago.org/genome/IMGAG/" href="http://www.medicago.org/genome/IMGAG/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">http://www.medicago.org/genome/IMGAG/</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external free" title="http://www.noble.org/" href="http://www.noble.org/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">http://www.noble.org/</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external free" title="http://medicago.toulouse.inra.fr/" href="http://medicago.toulouse.inra.fr/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">http://medicago.toulouse.inra.fr/</font></a> </li>
<li><a class="external free" title="http://mips.gsf.de/proj/plant/jsf/medi/index.jsp" href="http://mips.gsf.de/proj/plant/jsf/medi/index.jsp" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">http://mips.gsf.de/proj/plant/jsf/medi/index.jsp</font></a></li>
</ul>