''Lotus japonicus'' is a wild legume that belongs to family
. Members of this family are very diverse, constituting about 20,000 species. They are of significant agricultural and biological importance as many of the legume species are rich sources of protein and oil and can also fix atmospheric nitrogen.
''Lotus japonicus'' has become a model plant for genome studies in legumes, particularly in reference to rhizobial and arbuscular mycorrhizal
symbiosis
Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or para ...
. Small genome size of about 470 Mb,
diploid
Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respectiv ...
genome with 6
haploid
Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respective ...
chromosomes, a short life cycle of about 2 to 3 months and its perennial nature makes it a convenient plant to study.
''Lotus japonicus'' does have several similar characteristics to the legume ''
Medicago truncatula
''Medicago truncatula'', the barrelclover, strong-spined medick, barrel medic, or barrel medick, is a small annual legume native to the Mediterranean region that is used in genomic research. It is a low-growing, clover-like plant tall with trifol ...
'', but they are phylogenetically different and exhibit two different development systems for nodulation. ''L. japonicus'' has
determinate nodules[
]
References
japonicus
This list of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names is intended to help those unfamiliar with classical languages to understand and remember the scientific names of organisms. The binomial nomenclature used for animals and plants i ...
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