Nitrogen Fixation

News Nitrogen Fixation

• X-ray analysis could boost legumes, thus reducing fertilizer pollution
  

  The overuse of nitrogen fertilizers in agriculture can wreak havoc on waterways, health and the environment. An international team of scientists aims to lessen the reliance on these fertilizers by helping beans and similar plants boost their nitrogen production, even in areas with traditionally poor more

• Genome analysis of marine microbe reveals a metabolic minimalist

  Flightless birds, blind cave shrimp, and other oddities suggest a "use it or lose it" tendency in evolution. In the microbial world, an unusual marine microorganism appears to have ditched several major metabolic pathways, leaving it with a remarkably reduced set of genes. This metabolic minimalist more

• Research for organic farming: Soya thrives on nitrogen from the air

  For the first time, the capacity of soya plants to absorb nitrogen from the air has been precisely determined in dry areas of Eastern Austria. The primary aim of this project, backed by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, is to compare methods for determining nitrogen fixation levels and their applicatio more

White papers Nitrogen Fixation

• Characterizing Environments: Recent Discoveries Enabled by Metagenomic Analysis with the Genome Sequencer FLX System

  Metagenomics is the study of genomic content in a complex mixture of microorganisms. The two primary goals of this approach are to characterize the organisms present in a sample and identify what roles each organism has within a specific environment. Metagenomics samples are found nearly everywhere, including several microenvironments within the human body, soil samples, extreme environments such as deep mines, and the various layers within the ocean. Until recently, technical and economic constraints limited the depth of analysis necessary to obtain a representative picture of microbial and viral communities, their metabolic profiles, and their adaptation dynamics. Advancements in sequencing technologies, including the introduction of massively parallel pyrosequencing with the Genome Sequencer FLX System, have enabled a tremendous groundswell of research in the field of metagenomics. Dramatic improvements in throughput and the elimination of biased cloning steps have extended the field far beyond tradition more

Publications Nitrogen Fixation

• Structures of complexes comprised of Fischerella transcription factor HetR with Anabaena DNA targets [Biochemistry]

  HetR is an essential regulator of heterocyst development in cyanobacteria. Many mutations in HetR render Anabaena incapable of nitrogen fixation. The protein binds to a DNA palindrome upstream of hetP and other genes. We have determined the crystal structures of HetR complexed with palindromic DNA t more

• Transport and Metabolism in Legume-Rhizobia Symbioses

  Symbiotic nitrogen fixation by rhizobia in legume root nodules injects approximately 40 million tonnes of nitrogen into agricultural systems each year. In exchange for reduced nitrogen from the bacteria, the plant provides rhizobia with reduced carbon and all the essential nutrients required for bac more

• Elucidation of a novel lipid A {alpha}-(1,1)-GalA transferase gene (rgtF) from Mesorhizobium loti: Heterologous expression of rgtF causes Rhizobium etli to synthesize lipid A w ...

  An unusual α-(1,1)-galacturonic acid (GalA) lipid A modification has been reported in the lipopolysaccharide of a number of interesting Gram-negative bacteria, including the nitrogen-fixing bacteria Azospirillum lipoferum, Mesorhizobium huakuii and M. loti, the stalk-forming bacterium Caulobacter c more

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