Florida Museum of Natural History
Key points
- Low nitrogen availability is the number one limitation to plant growth in most ecosystems. Farmers compensate by adding nitrogen-rich fertilizers to their crops, which is expensive and harmful to the environment.
- Plants in the bean family and other closely related families evolved a symbiotic relationship with bacteria capable of acquiring nitrogen from the air, where it is abundant. Scientists want to genetically engineer crop plants to do the same, but there are several obstacles in their way. The open question of how many times this type of symbiosis evolved is one such obstacle.
- In a new study funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, scientists show that chemical receptors that plants use to recognize nitrogen-fixing bacteria have developed the same function independently on at least three separate occasions through a process called convergent evolution.
/Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).View in full here.
