Effect of graphene on soybean root colonization by strains.

Legume crops such as soybean obtain a large portion of their nitrogen nutrition through symbiotic nitrogen fixation by diazotrophic rhizobia bacteria in root nodules. However, nodule occupancy by low-capacity nitrogen-fixing rhizobia can lead to lower-than-optimal levels of nitrogen fixation. Seed/root coating with engineered materials such as graphene-carrying biomolecules that may promote specific attraction/attachment of desirable bacterial strains is a potential strategy that can help overcome this rhizobia competition problem.