Each technology revolution brings unique solutions, but also creates its own set of new problems. Before the invention of the airplane, there were no plane crashes. Of course, it also took months to sail across the Atlantic.Similarly, the development of chemical fertilizer, mainly nitrogen, has saved millions of people from starvation, dubbed the “green revolution.” But the dark side of these chemicals is their effects such as eutrophication. This process microalgaecaused by excess nutrients, consumes all available oxygen in the water body, making life unsustainable. Manufacture of chemical fertilizer It is also a very energy intensive process and one of the main contributors to carbon emissions. Now the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Bioengineering is exploring alternatives to solve this problem.Their approach is to add and develop bacterial genes into crops self-fertilization characteristics.
Bacteria and legumes naturally maintain a symbiotic relationship. NiffIn theory, if this bacterium’s gene expression could be added to other crops such as cereals, new crops could be grown. self-fertilized seeds. that is technology project of a scientist at MIT. However, these genes form complex clusters and cannot be plucked in such a way and tossed elsewhere. This is similar to DNA transplantation, with all the complications. Furthermore, the bacteria responsible for nitrogen fixation are prokaryotic cells with radically different gene expression than eukaryotic plant cells.
distant cousin
So instead of combining different cells to create these self-fertilizing species, researchers have organelles, structures within eukaryotes.These organelles, called mitochondria and chloroplasts, have a common ancestor bacteria, like millions of years ago, they existed as independent prokaryotes. In addition to this, nitrogenase, the enzyme that bacteria use to fix nitrogen, requires a lot of energy and is also very sensitive to the presence of oxygen in the environment. It produces a large amount of energy and is comfortable even in hypoxic environments, making it an ideal ally.
ongoing research
MIT is doing very ambitious research. self-fertilized grain We need experts from all over the world. Ralph Block, a chloroplast expert at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, and Luis Rubio, a nitrogenase expert, are two of his most important. The team used yeast as a gene delivery system for mitochondria-targeted nitrogenase. A major milestone reached by the team is the expression of the NifDK tetramer, an essential protein of the nitrogenase cluster. However, researchers at the technology project are confident they will unveil further advances in the coming months that could usher in a new era of serial production.
sauce: MIT
