ABSTRACT
Legumes range from small herbaceous plants to giant trees, dominating many tropical rainforests. In addition to the rhizobial symbiosis, legume plants also have the capacity to associate with symbiotic soil fungi to form arbuscular endomycorrhiza, where the fungus colonizes cortical root tissues and develops specialised exchange interfaces within the plant host cells. The two cultivated legume species, pea and soybean, were originally amongst the best genetically characterized crop plants, with well developed genetic maps based on numerous classical and molecular markers. International meetings devoted to joint model and crop legume biology and genomics are organized every year. Collections of insertional mutagenized plant lines are also the material of choice for reverse genetics. Targeted proteomes refer to individual organs and specific physiological situations such as single cell-types and subcellular compartments, as well as the proteome of associated symbiotic rhizobia.
