In a new study, scientists have shown that chemical receptors that plants use to recognize nitrogen-fixing bacteria have developed the same function independently on at least three separate occasions ...

Nitrogen fertilizers make it possible to feed the world's growing population, but they are also costly adn harm ecosystems. However, a few plants have evolved the ability to acquire their own nitrogen ...

Plants are a prominent part of the carbon cycle. They help absorb excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and in turn keep the global temperature in check. A recent study published in Nature claims ...

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State University is part of a European-American collaboration studying how human activities, like fertilizer use and polluting, are impacting nitrogen-fixing plants which ...

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 ...

A typical day for Jieshun Lin began with a long bus ride to the greenhouses. “For 10 hours each day, I would pull up plants and wash their roots, looking carefully at each individual plant. [Up to] 10 ...

Nitrogen is an essential component of all living organisms. It is also the key element controlling the growth of crops on land, as well as the microscopic oceanic plants that produce half the oxygen ...