Biological nitrogen fixation in maize: optimizing nitrogenase expression in a root-associated diazotroph.

ABSTRACT: Plants depend upon beneficial interactions between roots and root-associated microorganisms for growth promotion, disease suppression, and nutrient availability. This includes the ability of free-living diazotrophic bacteria to supply nitrogen, an ecological role that has been long underappreciated in modern agriculture for efficient crop production systems. Long-term ecological studies in legume-rhizobia interactions have shown that elevated nitrogen inputs can lead to the evolution of less cooperative nitrogen-fixing mutualists. Here we describe how reprogramming the genetic regulation of nitrogen fixation and assimilation in a novel root-associated diazotroph can restore ammonium production in the presence of exogenous nitrogen inputs. We isolated a strain of the plant-associated proteo

SUBMITTER: Bloch SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7382387 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature