The genome of Medicago polymorpha provides insights into its edibility and nutritional value as a vegetable and forage legume.
Jiawen Cui, Zhaogeng Lu, Tianyi Wang, Gang Chen, Salma Mostafa, Hailong Ren, Sian Liu, Chunxiang Fu, Li Wang, Yingfang Zhu, Jinkai Lu, Xiang Chen, Zhenwu Wei, Biao Jin
Author Information
Jiawen Cui: College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, 225009, Yangzhou, China.
Zhaogeng Lu: College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, 225009, Yangzhou, China. ORCID
Tianyi Wang: Novogene Bioinformatics Institute, 100083, Beijing, China.
Gang Chen: College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Yangzhou University, 225009, Yangzhou, China.
Salma Mostafa: College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, 225009, Yangzhou, China.
Hailong Ren: College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, 225009, Yangzhou, China.
Sian Liu: College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, 225009, Yangzhou, China.
Chunxiang Fu: Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 266101, Qingdao, China.
Li Wang: College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, 225009, Yangzhou, China. ORCID
Yingfang Zhu: State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Adaptation and Improvement, Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, School of Life Sciences, Henan University, 475001, Kaifeng, China.
Jinkai Lu: College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, 225009, Yangzhou, China.
Xiang Chen: Novogene Bioinformatics Institute, 100083, Beijing, China.
Zhenwu Wei: College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, 225009, Yangzhou, China. zwwei@yzu.edu.cn.
Biao Jin: College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, 225009, Yangzhou, China. bjin@yzu.edu.cn. ORCID
Medicago polymorpha is a nutritious and palatable forage and vegetable plant that also fixes nitrogen. Here, we reveal the chromosome-scale genome sequence of M. polymorpha using an integrated approach including Illumina, PacBio and Hi-C technologies. We combined PacBio full-length RNA-seq, metabolomic analysis, structural anatomy analysis and related physiological indexes to elucidate the important agronomic traits of M. polymorpha for forage and vegetable usage. The assembled M. polymorpha genome consisted of 457.53 Mb with a long scaffold N50 of 57.72 Mb, and 92.92% (441.83 Mb) of the assembly was assigned to seven pseudochromosomes. Comparative genomic analysis revealed that expansion and contraction of the photosynthesis and lignin biosynthetic gene families, respectively, led to enhancement of nutritious compounds and reduced lignin biosynthesis in M. polymorpha. In addition, we found that several positively selected nitrogen metabolism-related genes were responsible for crude protein biosynthesis. Notably, the metabolomic results revealed that a large number of flavonoids, vitamins, alkaloids, and terpenoids were enriched in M. polymorpha. These results imply that the decreased lignin content but relatively high nutrient content of M. polymorpha enhance its edibility and nutritional value as a forage and vegetable. Our genomic data provide a genetic basis that will accelerate functional genomic and breeding research on M. polymorpha as well as other Medicago and legume plants.
