The Legume Information System (LIS), is legume sciences portal specifically for legume breeders and researchers, established and supported by the Agricultural Research Service

Agricultural Research Service

The Agricultural Research Service is the principal in-house research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture . ARS is one of four agencies in USDA's Research, Education and Economics mission area...

 of the United States Department of Agriculture

United States Department of Agriculture

The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...

. The mission of the Legume Information System is "to facilitate discoveries and crop improvement in the legumes," in particular to improve crop yields, their nutritional value, and our understanding of basic legume science.

Development of the Legume Information System is a joint venture between the National Center for Genome Resources

National Center for Genome Resources

The is a nonprofit research organization in Santa Fe, New Mexico founded in 1994 focusing on life sciences research, bioinformatics technologies, and leading-edge molecular data production including sequencing, genotyping, and gene expression....

 (NCGR) and the USDA-ARS at Iowa State University.

The reference species as a backbone for orphan species research

A fundamental approach taken in LIS is facilitate research in the orphan species by taking advantage of more extensive knowledge developed for the reference species. Use of synteny and local similarity, for instance, provides a basis for trait inference.

Reference species

Note that LIS makes use of the UniProt

UniProt

UniProt is a comprehensive, high-quality and freely accessible database of protein sequence and functional information, many of which are derived from genome sequencing projects...

 organism mnemonics for identifying species whenever possible.

The current legume reference species (also referred to as model organisms

Model organism

A model organism is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the organism model will provide insight into the workings of other organisms. Model organisms are in vivo models and are widely used to...

) are the following:

• Glycine max
  Soybean
  The soybean or soya bean is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean which has numerous uses...
  
   (soybean), GLYMA
• Lotus japonicus
  Lotus japonicus
  Lotus japonicus is a wild legume that belongs to family Fabaceae. Members of this family are very diverse, constituting about 20,000 species. They are of significant agricultural and biological importance as many of the legume species are rich sources of protein and oil and can also fix atmospheric...
  
  , LOTJA
• Medicago truncatula
  Medicago truncatula
  Medicago truncatula is a small legume native to the Mediterranean region that is used in genomic research. It is a low-growing, clover-like plant 10–60 cm tall with trifoliate leaves. Each leaflet is rounded, 1–2 cm long, often with a dark spot in the center...
  
  , MEDTR

Orphan species

Orphan species represented at LIS are:

• Arachis hypogaea (peanut), ARAHY
• Cajanus cajan (pigeon pea), CAJCA
• Chamaecrista fasciculata
  Chamaecrista fasciculata
  Chamaecrista fasciculata is a species of legume native to most of the eastern United States. It is an annual which grows to approximately 0.5 meters tall...
  
  , CHAFS
• Cicer arietinum (chickpea), CICAR
• Lens culinaris (lentil), LENCU
• Lupinus albus
  Lupinus albus
  Lupinus albus, commonly known as the white lupin, is a member of the genus Lupinus in the family Fabaceae. It is a traditional pulse cultivated in the Mediterranean region.- Description :...
  
   (white lupin), LUPAL
• Lupinus angustifolius
  Lupinus angustifolius
  Lupinus angustifolius is a species of lupine known by many common names, including narrowleaf lupine and blue lupine. It is native to Eurasia and northern Africa, and it is naturalized in parts of Australia and North America. It is cultivated as a food crop for its edible legume seeds and as a...
  
   (blue lupin), LUPAN
• Medicago sativa (alfalfa), MEDSA
• Phaseolus coccineus (scarlet runner bean), PHACN
• Phaseolus vulgaris (common bean), PHAVU
• Pisum sativum (garden pea), PEA
• Trifolium pratense (red clover), TRIPR
• Vicia faba
  Vicia faba
  This article refers to the Broad Bean plant. For Broadbean the company, see Broadbean, Inc.Vicia faba, the Broad Bean, Fava Bean, Field Bean, Bell Bean or Tic Bean, is a species of bean native to north Africa and southwest Asia, and extensively cultivated elsewhere. A variety is provisionally...
  
   (broad bean), VICFA
• Vigna radiata (mung bean), VIGRA
• Vigna unguiculata (cowpea), VIGUN