Astragalus adsurgens Pall., a perennial legume native to China, is commonly used as a forage crop. And it has great value for sustainable development of grasslands in arid and semi arid regions. However, to date, little is known regarding the A. adsurgens genome, and no studies have determined whether it would be possible to improve the germplasm of A. adsurgens through genetic modification. In this study, we used an RNA-seq protocol to generate a de novo transcriptome including 151,516 unigenes of A. adsurgens. We compared the transcriptomes of A. adsurgens having different growth habits (prostrate/erect) and identified 14,133 single nucleotide polymorphism sites (SNP) in 8,139 unigenes. Differential expression gene (DEG) analysis suggested that 10,982 unigenes were up-regulated in the prostrate plant relative to the erect plant, while 10,607 unigenes were down-regulated. Of the 21,589 DEG, Unigene72782_All (LAX4) and CL12494.Contig3_All (TIR1), an auxin transporter gene and an auxin transport inhibitor gene, respectively, were predicted to influence the growth habit of A. adsurgens, which were verified by qRT-PCR in these phenotypes. These results suggest that auxin transport was more active in the prostrate plant than in the erect plant, resulting in asymmetric distribution of auxin that affects the growth habit of A. adsurgens. Overall, this study may provide a basis for future research on key genes in A. adsurgens and may deepen our understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating plant growth habit.

Habit

10.1111/plb.13052

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Construction of a high-density genetic linkage map and identification of flowering-related QTL in erect milkvetch (Astragalus adsurgens)

The Crop Journal (2022)

Wenlong Gong Lin Ma Qiu Gao Wei Bao Jiangui Zhang

Erect milkvetch (Astragalus adsurgens) is a perennial legume forage crop with economic and ecological value in livestock grazing and soil-erosion control in arid and semiarid areas worldwide. Genomic information and molecular tools to support breeding and research in the species are limited. The objectives of this investigation were to map its genome using DNA markers and to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) in the species. An F1 mapping population of 250 plants was developed from a cross between two parents with differing flowering-related traits. A high-density genetic linkage map containing 4821 markers on eight linkage groups (LGs) with a total genetic length of 1395 cM and a mean interval of 0.29 cM between adjacent markers was constructed with SLAF-seq technology. Comparative genomic analyses revealed the highest genome sequence similarity (8.71%) between erect milkvetch and Medicago truncatula, followed by Glycine max (7.65%), Cicer arietinum (7.53%), and Lupinus angustifolius (5.21%). A total of 64 significant QTL for flowering-related traits on six LGs were detected, accounting for 9.38 to 19.1% of the associated phenotype variation. Five and 48 key candidate genes for floret number and inflorescence length were identified based on the Glycyrrhiza uralensis genome. These candidate genes were involved in ubiquitination/degradation, pollen development, cell division, cytokinin biosynthetic process, and plant flowering. These findings shed light on the regulation of flowering traits in erect milkvetch and provide genomic resources for future molecular breeding of the crop.

Candidate gene

Medicago

10.1016/j.cj.2022.01.008

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Transcriptome analysis of secondary cell wall synthesis regulation at different developmental stages in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.).

Zhongguo nongye Kexue (2018)

Xiqiang Liu Zhang Han Pan Gong Wenlong Gong Zan Wang

Medicago sativa

Medicago

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