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Nitrogen Fixation
Nitrogen Fixation
N
biodistribution, including blood-brain bar- itrogen is the main nutrient that lim- nitrogenase in a plant.
rier permeability. its crop yield. Biologically reactive Biological nitrogen fixation is catalyzed
AkaBLI is a substantial leap forward for nitrogen is therefore routinely sup- by nitrogenase, a complex and extremely
small-animal BLI. This technology will al- plied to crops as synthetic nitrogen oxygen-sensitive enzyme that requires mul-
low a range of in vivo applications, includ- fertilizer. In the developed world, the tiple genes for its assembly (5). The best
ing monitoring neuronal-activity–dependent extensive use of synthetic fertilizer studied nitrogenase, molybdenum (Mo) ni-
gene expression, following tumor growth and in agriculture has substantial financial and trogenase, consists of an iron (Fe) protein
metastasis, tracking immune cell migration, environmental costs (1). By contrast, in the (NifH) and a MoFe protein (NifDK) (5). The
monitoring stem cell fate, and assessing the developing world, the lack of fertilizer causes minimum genetic requirements for nitro-
efficiency of gene delivery and editing tech- low crop yields, resulting in hunger and mal- genase activity depend on the nitrogenase;
nologies. A future version, engineered for Ca2+- nutrition. Many of these problems could be the minimum genes required for the Mo ni-
responsive bioluminescence (14), could be avoided if plants could be engineered to fix trogenase in Escherichia coli include genes
a powerful tool for real-time imaging of neu- nitrogen directly from air. encoding the Fe and MoFe proteins (nifH,
ronal activity in freely behaving animals. j One hundred years ago, Burrill and Han- D, and K), a chaperone for correct folding
sen asked whether symbiosis is possible be- of one of the structural components (nifM),
REFERENCES
tween nonlegume plants and the bacteria electron-transfer proteins (nifF and J), and
1. V. Pieribone, D. F. Gruber, Aglow in the Dark: The
Revolutionary Science of Biofluorescence (Harvard Univ. that produce nitrogen-fixing nodules on the cofactor assembly proteins (3, 6).
Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005). roots of legumes (2). This approach involves López-Torrejón et al. introduced nifH
2. J. R. de Wet et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 82, 7870 (1985).
3. C. M. Rathbun, J. A. Prescher, Biochemistry 56, 5178 creating the capacity for nonlegumes to form and nifM genes from the nitrogen-fixing
(2017). a tight symbiotic relationship with nitrogen- bacterium Azotobacter vinelandii into the
4. S. Iwano et al., Science 359, 935 (2018). fixing bacteria. nuclear genome of the yeast Saccharomy-
5. H. H. Seliger, W. D. McElroy, Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 88,
PHOTO: VISUALS STOCK/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
136 (1960). The advent of DNA technologies in the ces cerevisiae, which they used as a model
6. B. R. Branchini et al., Anal. Biochem. 396, 290 (2010). 1970s led to a second approach: introduc- eukaryote (7). NifH and NifM coexpression
7. V. R. Viviani et al., Biochemistry 38, 8271 (1999).
8. S. Iwano et al., Tetrahedron 69, 3847 (2013). ing nitrogen-fixation genes directly into a in aerobically grown yeast produced ac-
9. T. Kuchimaru et al., Nat. Commun. 7, 11856 (2016). plant. However, this dream remains unre- tive nitrogenase Fe protein, even without
10. W. W. Lorenz et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 88, 4438 alized (3, 4). Here, we look at the current the presence of the Nif-specific iron-sulfur
(1991).
11. S. Inouye et al., FEBS Lett. 481, 19 (2000). status and future of engineering nitrogen- (Fe-S) cluster assembly proteins (NifS and
12. M. P. Hall et al., ACS Chem. Biol. 7, 1848 (2012). NifU). This result showed that mitochon-
13. H.-W. Yeh et al., Nat. Methods 14, 971 (2017).
14. K. Suzuki et al., Nat. Commun. 7, 13718 (2016). dria can protect the oxygen-labile Fe pro-
Department of Biological Sciences, University
of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada. tein and that the native mitochondrial Fe-S
10.1126/science.aas9159 Email: allen.good@ualberta.ca cluster assembly machinery can success-
Published by AAAS
Toward nitrogen-fixing plants
Allen Good
REFERENCES This article cites 13 articles, 5 of which you can access for free
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6378/869#BIBL
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