Nitrogen is essential for all plants and animals, but despite being surrounded by it—the element constitutes 79% of air on earth—only a few bacteria can absorb it directly from the environment. All ...

Cambridge scientists have identified two crucial genetic factors needed to produce specialised root organs that can accommodate nitrogen-fixing bacteria in legumes such as peas and beans. In a ...

WHEN a legume root is infected by the nodule organism, the formation of the young nodule is brought about by the multiplication and growth in size of the root-cells, principally in the cortex. In ...

To make protein, soybean plants need a lot of nitrogen. Beneficial bacteria in root nodules typically assist. A new study shows it's possible to increase the number of soybean root nodules--and the ...

Peas and other legumes develop spherical or cylindrical structures -- called nodules -- in their roots to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with bacteria that convert atmospheric nitrogen ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Plant breeders could theoretically increase soybean crop yields if they could control the number of nodules on plant roots since they are responsible for fixing atmospheric ...

My laboratory research has focused on the symbiotic association of nitrogen-fixing Rhizobium meliloti with its host plant alfalfa. The specific interaction of the bacteria with alfalfa root hairs ...

Legumes can grow in nitrogen-poor soils due to their ability to engage in symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. There is a great interest in using the knowledge about this symbiosis to enable ...

Rhizobium fredii USDA257 forms nitrogen-fixing nodules on soybean cultivar Peking, but not on cultivar McCall. This pattern of nodulation persists when McCall and Peking seedlings are cultivated ...

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, the University of Cologne, and the University of Copenhagen have uncovered a hidden talent of the Casparian strip—a root structure ...

PLANTS NEED nitrogen to make proteins and DNA. But though this element is abundant in the air, they have failed to evolve the biochemical apparatus needed to break up nitrogen molecules and combine ...