Medicago hits the spotlight for WA researchers

ROTTNEST Island became a hub for legume specialists late last year with the first Australian gathering to discuss the importance of Medicago truncatula genes to the future of agricultural science. Organised by Murdoch University, the meeting was attended by members of government, industry, scientists and legume breeders.

“Medicago is a legume that has been chosen as a major focus for genetic research into legumes,” said Murdoch genetic scientist, Dr Geoff Dwyer. “Legumes form an important component of Australian agricultural and horticultural industries. They have a special symbiotic relationship with nitrogen fixing bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi, suggesting that the basis of plant-pathogen interactions in legumes may also differ from that of other well characterised genetic models such as Arabidopsis and rice.

The vast majority of crop legumes have large, complex genomes and it would not be economically feasible for the genetics of each to be described, so people around the world are working towards deciphering the genome of Medicago. This knowledge can then be used as a conduit for discovery in other legumes such as chickpeas, beans, peas and lentils”

Dr Geoff Dwyer has been working for Murdoch University with the Plant Biotechnology Research Group and the Centre for Bioinformatics and Biological Computing to develop molecular resources and software tools with the capability to carry out large-scale comparative studies of legume species.

“Last year’s meeting was a very important step for agricultural biotechnology research in Australia. People from a range of related industries had the opportunity to hear from the world’s foremost researchers in the field about the crucial role Medicago will play in our understanding of legume biology and the role it will have in helping studies of related legume crops.”

“The meeting has already resulted in an increase in Medicago research in Australia and we hope it was the first of many meetings to come in the next few years.”

The meeting was funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation.