Transcriptome analysis of alfalfa under cold and freezing stress. Medicago sativa cultivar:Zhaodong

Winter damage, especially in northern climates winter, is major limitation to utilization of perennial forages, for instance alfalfa. Therefore, improvement of freezing tolerance becomes an imperative task of alfalfa genetic breeding. However, freezing tolerance is a complex trait, which is determined by numbers of genes. To understanding the complex regulation mechanisms of freezing tolerance in alfalfa, we have performed small RNA sequencing analysis, degradome sequencing, and transcriptome sequencing under cold (4°C) and freezing stress (-8°C).