Most organisms require nitrogen to produce biological molecules, such as nucleotides and amino acids, but until recently, only prokaryotes were known to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere. “It’s a very ...

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 ...

The marine nitrogen cycle is crucial to sustaining ocean productivity, with biological nitrogen fixation representing a primary mechanism by which inert atmospheric nitrogen is converted into ...

A new study examined nitrogen fixation among diazotrophs--microorganisms that can convert nitrogen into usable form for other plants and animals -- living among sargassum. Sargassum, a brown ...

It has puzzled scientists for years whether and how bacteria, that live from dissolved organic matter in marine waters, can carry out N 2 fixation. It was assumed that the high levels of oxygen ...

Research into bacteria strains that are both competitive and efficient in nitrogen fixation and developing plants with those characteristics is the goal of NDSU research started in October 2024.

Scientists shed light on an unexpected partnership: A marine diatom and a bacterium that can account for a large share of nitrogen fixation in vast regions of the ocean. This symbiosis likely plays a ...