Immature seeds and embryos of Medicago truncatula cultured in vitro.

Legumes are an important source of proteins and lipids for food and feed. In addition, they are -environmentally friendly because of their capacity to fix nitrogen through a symbiosis with Rhizobium that permits them to produce abundant proteins even in the absence of nitrogen fertilization. Seed development in plants follows three chronological steps (1) seed coat differentiation, embryo morphogenesis and endosperm development; (2) embryo maturation with storage accumulation and (3) dehydration and the acquisition of desiccation tolerance. Finally, germination occurs when the environmental conditions become favourable. Working with the model legume Medicago truncatula, an in vitro protocol was developed for the culture of immature embryos that permits their development in a way comparable to that observed in plants.In this chapter, the usefulness of this system for investigating embryo development in legumes is outlined.