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Nitrogen is a vital nutrient for plants, and although there are many in the air, they can only get it out of the ground – hence the need for it. artificial fertilizers. But now, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have invented bacteria that can effectively suck nitrogen out of the air, and the long-term goal is to develop crops capable of doing the same thing
composed of nitrogen, but the family of legumes is among the very few plants that are able to tap into this rich resource (known as fixation of l 39; ;nitrogen). The vast majority relies on the absorption of nutrients by their roots, but the soil can often be missed, which requires the application of fertilizer on crops.
Developing plants that can essentially "fertilize" themselves in the air could be a huge advantage for agriculture and the environment. In a recent study, researchers developed soybean plants containing more nitrogenous protein, which propelled the plants into overdrive. Another technique, infusing the seeds with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, could be applied to almost any plant.
Similar bacteria were at the center of the new study. WUSTL researchers have begun to isolate the genes that fix nitrogen in cyanobacteria. In particular, they focused on a species known as Cyanothece that uses a circadian rhythm for photosynthesis during the day and fix nitrogen at night.
The team determined which genes were responsible for this biological clock. spliced them into another species of cyanobacteria, Synechocystis to see if it could capture the nitrogen binding ability.
After the elimination of oxygen, which is produced by photosynthesis and interferes with the fixation of nitrogen, and the addition of 35 new genes, Synechocystis was able to fix nitrogen at one time. rate of about two percent of that of Cyanothece . Not great, but it's a start. But insects increased their game when the team removed some of the added genes: with only 24 Cyanothece genes the nitrogen fixation of Synechocystis increased to more than 30% of Cyanothece
"This means that the engineering plan is achievable," says Himadri Pakrasi, principal investigator of the study. "I must say, this achievement was beyond my expectations."
Research is a step towards the ultimate goal of the team to find a way to genetically engineer plants that can fix nitrogen. This could increase crop yield and reduce the need for fertilizers, which can be environmentally costly and dangerous once they have infiltrated into natural waterways.
The research was published in the journal mBio . 19659003] Source: University of Washington at St. Louis
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