Detalle de: Molecular strategies for adaptation by legumes to toxic environments

Legume species are essential for ecosystem function by their contribution to the nitrogen cycle and have been proposed as potential plant resources for growing crops on marginal soils, replenishing nitrogen in marginal soils, and phytoremediation of toxic soils. We have tested a large collection of the legume species Medicago truncatula (230 plant genotypes) for tolerance to that cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg). The plant genotypes with the highest and lowest tolerance to each metal will be sequenced using tissue specific RNA-seq for differential expression analysis. Leaf accumulation of either Cd or Hg metals has been measured. Having both tolerant and non-tolerant genotypes with high and low metal accumulation will allow differential expression patterns to be compared as divergent expression based on genotypic variation between tolerant and non-tolerant accessions, accumulating and non-accumulating cultivars and which genes are differentially up or down-regulated following metal treatments, which might contribute to metal tolerance and accumulation.