Lotus japonicus: Plant Resource for Research and Education

Abstract

Legumes are cultivated and used as a vital source of protein from the tropics to the temperate zones, and they are also an important resource for research on such topics as the accumulation of secondary metabolites and symbiosis with microorganisms. Lotus japonicus (Japanese trefoil) is a wild perennial plant with a small genome and a short life cycle. This plant is expected to play a role as the model organism of leguminous plants, which include important crop plants such as soybean (Glycine max). Especially, L. japonicus is one of useful plant resource not only researches but also education.