New sym­bi­osis discovered

Nitrogen is an essential component of all living organisms. It is also the key element controlling the growth of crops on land, as well as the microscopic oceanic plants that produce half the oxygen on our planet. Atmospheric nitrogen gas is by far the largest pool of nitrogen, but plants cannot transform it into a usable form. Instead, crop plants like soybeans, peas and alfalfa (collectively known as legumes) have acquired Rhizobial bacterial partners that “fix” atmospheric nitrogen into ammonium. This partnership makes legumes one of the most important sources of proteins in food production.

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany, now report that Rhizobia can also form similar partnerships with tiny marine plants called diatoms – a discovery that solves a long-standing marine mystery and which has potentially far-reaching agricultural applications. A co-author from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) was involved in the identification of a diatom species for the Nature publication. You can read the full article on this MPIMM website...