Medicago sativa Raw sequence reads. Medicago sativa

Medicago sativa (alfalfa) is the primarily low-input bioenergy crop and also a leading forage crop in the world. To improve its yield and quality is the main purpose for alfalfa production. A precursor of M. sativa miRNA156 (MsmiR156) overexpression (miR156OE) transgenic alfalfa was generated with significant biomass-enhanced phenotype of reduced internode length and stem thickness, enhanced shoot branching, increased trichome density and a delay in flowering time. In addition, three SQUAMOSA-PROMOTER BINGIND PROTIEN-LIKE (SPL) genes (MsSPL6, MsSPL12, and MsSPL13) were found to be downregulated. To dissect and further illustrate the molecular mechanism for the regulation of enhanced biomass phenotype of miR156OE transgenic alfalfa plants, two most prominent miR156OE lines A11a and A17 were selected for Next Generation Sequencing with Illumina HiSeq at transcriptome level.