Most major crops, such as wheat and corn, require expensive nitrogen fertilizer to flourish. But what if bacteria could help ...

A new research initiative led by associate professor of bacteriology Betül Kaçar is positioned to transform agriculture and address some of the world’s most pressing ecological and economic challenges ...

All known life forms require nitrogen. However, more than 70% of all nitrogen on Earth occurs as inert, triple-bonded dinitrogen gas in the atmosphere, which is generally biologically unavailable. A ...

Nitrogen is vital for all known life. Yet most nitrogen on Earth is in the atmosphere as di-nitrogen gas, which many organisms can’t use. Fortunately, there are microbes that can tap into this ...

A tiny protein tweak may unlock nitrogen-fixing super-crops that slash global fertilizer demand. Scientists discovered a small protein region that determines whether plants reject or welcome ...

Bacteria are only the only organisms that are able to 'fix' nitrogen, or remove it from the atmosphere and convert it into a useful form. While some plants seem to fix nitrogen, it is actually ...

A new study finds that UCYN-A, a species of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, may be evolving organelle-like characteristics. Nitrogen is a nutrient essential for all life on Earth. Although nitrogen gas ...

The ability of tropical forests to grow and store carbon is limited, in part, by herbivory. Insects and other animals prefer to feed on nitrogen-fixing trees, reducing the success of fixers and the ...

University of Delaware undergraduate student Spencer Toth was always interested in the environment and biology, so when she arrived at UD and realized that she could combine both of her passions by ...

In Death Valley National Park, which straddles the California-Nevada border, mesquite plants (genus Prosopis) thrive in extreme aridity. While most vegetation types must extract most of their ...

If you liked this story, share it with other people. Researchers recently discovered two new phytoplankton species: Epithemia pelagica and Epithemia catenata. The species were found to carry out ...