Lotus japonicus
Lotus corniculatus var japonicus ' Gifu '
Lotus corniculatus var japonicus (syn. Lotus japonicus ) is a variety of the ordinary foot Trefoil ( Lotus corniculatus ). It belongs to the genus birdsfoot trefoil ( Lotus ) in the subfamily of the Fabaceae ( Faboideae ) within the legume family ( Fabaceae ).
Description
Lotus corniculatus var japonicus is an erect or creeping growing, perennial, herbaceous plant. It is glabrous or slightly hairy on the stems, petioles and leaf veins. The leaves are pinnate five times, two of the leaves at the stem base sit. The schirmchenförmige inflorescence contains from one to three, rarely four individual flowers. The petals are yellow. The seed pods that are 2 cm to 2.5 cm long, change color during the ripening from green to yellow to dark brown. The oval seeds measure 1 to 1.7 mm in diameter.
The chromosome number is 2n = 12
Occurrence
The distribution area of Lotus corniculatus var japonicus is located in East and Central Asia, extending from Japan, Korea and China via Nepal to Kashmir. There are populated up to 3100 meters altitude.
Lotus corniculatus var japonicus as a model organism in biology
Lotus corniculatus var japonicus was chosen in the 1990s as a model plant for the Leguminosenforschung. Compared to other, more relevant agricultural legume Lotus corniculatus var japonicus has with about 450 Mbp and 6 chromosomes in the haploid set a relatively small genome. This makes Lotus corniculatus var japonicus significantly more accessible for molecular biological techniques for the isolation and characterization of genes. Other advantages are that Lotus corniculatus var japonicus is auto -compatible and self-pollinating, in a short time comes from sowing to flowering, and produces a large number of seeds. There were standardized techniques for tissue culture and manipulation of DNA by Agrobacterium tumefaciens described as a vector.
Lotus corniculatus var japonicus Medicago truncatula as a model plant beside of particular interest, since it is capable of both root nodule symbiosis with rhizobia and mycorrhizal mushrooms to the phylum Glomeromycota. The research on both Modellleguminosen will play a vital role in understanding the fundamental processes which lead to the formation of root nodules and mycorrhiza. In recent years, numerous genes have been identified and isolated, which are essential for the formation of both or one of the symbiosis. The genome to be fully sequenced.
System
The first description of Lotus corniculatus var japonicus was published in 1864 by Eduard August von Regel in a plant directory of the St. Petersburg botanical garden. An alternative classification of the rank of a species, not variety, described Kai Larsen 1955.