Publications by authors named "Rafael E Venado"
The extensive use of nitrogen fertilizers has detrimental environmental consequences, and it is fundamental for society to explore sustainable alternatives. One promising avenue is engineering root nodule symbiosis, a naturally occurring process in certain plant species within the nitrogen-fixing clade, into non-leguminous crops. Advancements in single-cell transcriptomics provide unprecedented opportunities to dissect the molecular mechanisms underlying root nodule symbiosis at the cellular level.
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- Plant breeding and genetics are crucial for improving crops to meet human needs, particularly in the context of sustainable agriculture that utilizes nitrogen-fixing microorganisms.
- A study of sorghum varieties identified genetic factors linked to the formation of beneficial aerial roots that support these nitrogen-fixing bacteria, focusing on both environmental and genetic influences.
- The research included extensive genome analysis and breeding experiments to understand how these traits can be inherited and optimized, aiming to enhance sorghum's ability to naturally acquire nitrogen for better growth.
Synthetic biology and metabolic engineering promise to deliver sustainable solutions to global problems such as phasing out fossil fuels and replacing industrial nitrogen fixation. While this promise is real, scale matters, and so do knock-on effects of implementing solutions. Both scale and knock-on effects can be estimated by 'Fermi calculations' (aka 'back-of-envelope calculations') that use uncontroversial input data plus simple arithmetic to reach rough but reliable conclusions.
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- Legumes form partnerships with nitrogen-fixing rhizobia inside root nodules, relying on adaptations like leghemoglobin and diffusion barriers to protect bacterial enzymes.
- The study identified key genes linked to oxygen management and cell wall modifications that help maintain these barriers during nodule infection.
- Mutants lacking a specific gene showed reduced polyester deposition in the nodules, leading to higher oxygen levels and decreased nitrogen fixation efficiency, highlighting the importance of these barriers for plant growth.