Nitrification by plants that also fix nitrogen

Nature
Charles R HipkinMansour A Salem

Abstract

Nitrification is a key stage in the nitrogen cycle; it enables the transformation of nitrogen into an oxidized, inorganic state. The availability of nitrates produced by this process often limits primary productivity and is an important determinant in plant community ecology and biodiversity. Chemoautotrophic prokaryotes are recognized as the main facilitators of this process, although heterotrophic nitrification by fungi may be significant under certain conditions. However, there has been neither biochemical nor ecological evidence to support nitrification by photoautotrophic plants. Here we show how certain legumes that accumulate the toxin, 3-nitropropionic acid, generate oxidized inorganic nitrogen in their shoots, which is returned to the soil in their litter. In nitrogen-fixing populations this 'new' nitrate and nitrite can be derived from the assimilation of nitrogen gas. Normally, the transformation of elemental nitrogen from the atmosphere into a fixed oxidized form (as nitrate) is represented in the nitrogen cycle as a multiphasic process involving several different organisms. We show how this can occur in a single photoautotrophic organism, representing a previously undescribed feature of this biogeochemical cycle.

Citations

Apr 13, 2010·Applied and Environmental Microbiology·Shirley F NishinoJim C Spain
Nov 29, 2008·Phytochemistry·Porntep ChomcheonPrasat Kittakoop
Apr 3, 2012·Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics·Kevin FrancisGiovanni Gadda
Jun 21, 2015·Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology·Alexey NovoselovWilhelm Boland
Feb 1, 2018·Proteins·Johnson AgniswamyGiovanni Gadda
Mar 9, 2017·Natural Product Reports·Tobias BeckerWilhelm Boland
Mar 16, 2018·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Xue-Yan LiuCong-Qiang Liu
Jul 30, 2019·Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics·Dan SuGiovanni Gadda
Oct 17, 2021·Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology·Juan Carlos Torres-GuzmanGloria Angelica Gonzalez-Hernandez

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