Proteomics of Medicago truncatula

Legumes are unique in their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen through symbiotic relationships with rhizobia resulting in high protein content in the plants and the portioning of nitrogen in the soil. As a result legumes have become a worldwide staple in both human and animal nutrition. Unfortunately, commercial legumes such as soybean and alfalfa have large complex genomes that make the direct molecular and genetic study of these species more challenging. As a result, Medicago truncatula has been adopted as a model species for studying legume biology. These studies now include a large number of detailed proteome analyses, which are reviewed in this chapter. Topics reviewed include proteomic approaches, systematic identification of tissue-specific proteomes, rhizobia interactions, nodulation, arbuscule mycorrhizal interactions, seed development, and embryogenesis. The impact of biotic and abiotic environmental stresses on the M. truncatula proteome are also reviewed, including responses to pathogenic interactions, sewage treatment, desiccation tolerance, methyl jasmonate elicitation, and yeast elicitation.