Brachypodium distachyon is part of the Pooidae subfamily, which includes temperate cereals and grasses. Important to our interests, brachypodium is a model system for herbaceous plants that are candidates for temperate grain crops such as wheat and barley. The iron acquisition systems of grasses differ greatly from those of dicots, because they secrete phytosiderophores. Thus, brachypodium is an important new research tool for understanding the molecular mechanism of the phytosiderophore-based iron acquisition system.