GM Plants Could Lessen Need for Nitrogen Fertilizers

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

Fertilizers containing nitrogen can boost crop yields tremendously, but the resulting agricultural runoff pollutes nearby waterways. If plants were more efficient at fixing nitrogen, the problem could be alleviated. Research published online this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences outlines one potential way to achieve this goal. According to the report, plants endowed with a corn gene absorb greater amounts of the element from the soil and can thrive under low-nitrogen conditions.

Researchers led by Shuichi Yanagisawa of Okayama University in Japan engineered a strain of Arabidopsis plants carrying an additional gene, Dof1, which affects metabolism. The modified plants contained more carbon, amino acids and about 30 percent more nitrogen than control plants did. In addition, they grew well in soil containing one tenth the amount of nitrogen that normal shrubs needed to flourish.

The scientists also tested the modification technique on potato plants and had similar successes. They thus posit that the Dof1 approach could be applied to a wide variety of plant species and could suggest a means of lessening agricultural dependence on nitrogen fertilizers.

It’s Time to Stand Up for Science

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.

I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.

If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.

In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.

There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.

Thank you,

David M. Ewalt, Editor in Chief, Scientific American