SummaryLupins are important grain legume crops that form a critical part of sustainable farming systems, reducing fertilizer use and providing disease breaks. It has a basal phylogenetic position relative to other crop and model legumes and a high speciation rate. Narrow‐leafed lupin (NLL; Lupinus angustifolius L.) is gaining popularity as a health food, which is high in protein and dietary fibre but low in starch and gluten‐free. We report the draft genome assembly (609 Mb) of NLL cultivar Tanjil, which has captured >98% of the gene content, sequences of additional lines and a dense genetic map. Lupins are unique among legumes and differ from most other land plants in that they do not form mycorrhizal associations. Remarkably, we find that NLL has lost all mycorrhiza‐specific genes, but has retained genes commonly required for mycorrhization and nodulation. In addition, the genome also provided candidate genes for key disease resistance and domestication traits. We also find evidence of a whole‐genome triplication at around 25 million years ago in the genistoid lineage leading to Lupinus. Our results will support detailed studies of legume evolution and accelerate lupin breeding programmes.

Summary During arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis (AMS), considerable amounts of lipids are generated, modified and moved within the cell to accommodate the fungus in the root, and it has also been suggested that lipids are delivered to the fungus. To determine the mechanisms by which root cells redirect lipid biosynthesis during AMS we analyzed the roles of two lipid biosynthetic enzymes (FatM and RAM2) and an ABC transporter (STR) that are required for symbiosis and conserved uniquely in plants that engage in AMS. Complementation analyses indicated that the biochemical function of FatM overlaps with that of other Fat thioesterases, in particular FatB. The essential role of FatM in AMS was a consequence of timing and magnitude of its expression. Lipid profiles of fatm and ram2 suggested that FatM increases the outflow of 16:0 fatty acids from the plastid, for subsequent use by RAM2 to produce 16:0 β‐monoacylglycerol. Thus, during AMS, high‐level, specific expression of key lipid biosynthetic enzymes located in the plastid and the endoplasmic reticulum enables the root cell to fine‐tune lipid biosynthesis to increase the production of β‐monoacylglycerols. We propose a model in which β‐monoacylglycerols, or a derivative thereof, are exported out of the root cell across the periarbuscular membrane for ultimate use by the fungus.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis (AMS), a widespread mutualistic association of land plants and fungi(1), is predicted to have arisen once, early in the evolution of land plants(2-4). Consistent with this notion, several genes required for AMS have been conserved throughout evolution(5) and their symbiotic functions preserved, at least between monocot and dicot plants(6,7). Despite its significance, knowledge of the plants' genetic programme for AMS is limited. To date, most genes required for AMS have been found through commonalities with the evolutionarily younger nitrogen-fixing Rhizobium legume symbiosis (RLS)(8) or by reverse genetic analyses of differentially expressed candidate genes(9). Large sequence-indexed insertion mutant collections and recent genome editing technologies have vastly increased the power of reverse genetics but selection of candidate genes, from the thousands of genes that change expression during AMS, remains an arbitrary process. Here, we describe a phylogenomics approach to identify genes whose evolutionary history predicts conservation for AMS and we demonstrate the accuracy of the predictions through reverse genetics analysis. Phylogenomics analysis of 50 plant genomes resulted in 138 genes from Medicago truncatula predicted to function in AMS. This includes 15 genes with known roles in AMS. Additionally, we demonstrate that mutants in six previously uncharacterized AMS-conserved genes are all impaired in AMS. Our results demonstrate that phylogenomics is an effective strategy to identify a set of evolutionarily conserved genes required for AMS.