Recent Advancements in Breeding and Genomics of White Clover

White clover (Trifolium repens L.) belongs to the Fabaceae family, which also includes several well-studied forage legumes. Allotetraploid white clover, a cool-season perennial legume widely used as livestock forage, is an important candidate for marker-assisted breeding. This species is also used as an Eco–Eco-evolutionary model to study variations in chemical defense within the species. It has a well-known variation for cyanogensis (release of HCN after tissue damage), with cyanogenic plants being more common in warmer areas around the world. A genetic linkage map of white clover was created using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers derived from the DNA sequences of several Trifolieae species, including white clover. By incorporating foreign genes into superior plant material of white clover, scientists have conducted the first-ever field test of genetically modified white clover. A new breeding method has been developed for cross-pollinated crops such as white clover that overcomes challenges by identifying second-generation (F2) plants that have two identical copies of specific introduced genes RNA-seq and qRT-PCR experiments confirmed that genes are more highly expressed during early or intermittent responses to cold stress, indicating that they likely play important roles in determining white clover’s cold tolerance.