Newly discovered soybean biomechanism could increase crop yields
In Indiana, Purdue University reported that a group of scientists have discovered an evolutionary innovation in soybean plants that might improve crop yields if fine-tuned through alternative approaches such as gene editing, according to a study published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Legume-based crops can pull nitrogen from the air to meet their needs for growth through a process called biological nitrogen fixation,” said Purdue University’s Jianxin Ma, professor of agronomy and the Indiana Soybean Alliance Chair in Soybean Improvement. Soybean establishes a mutually beneficial relationship with soil bacteria called rhizobia through forming nodules — specialized root structures within which the bacteria fix nitrogen. “This study reports a new mechanism that promotes soybean nodulation, plant productivity and environmental resilience,” Ma said.
In 2019, Ma and his team announced the discovery of a rhizobia-based mechanism that promotes soybean nodulation. They found that the bacteria produce tiny RNA fragments from their transfer RNAs. These fragments enter the plant cells, where they act like dimmer switches on certain plant genes — tuning them down to help the plant form more nodules where the bacteria reside throughout the soybean growing season.
The discovery led researchers to suspect that soybeans must also have evolved mechanisms to promote nodulation. “In this new paper, we observed a complementary mechanism from the host plant side,” Ma said. That mechanism, acting like an accelerator pedal, promotes nodulation, enhances the nitrogen fixation capability, and, in turn, can increase soybean yield under low-nitrogen conditions.
Category: Food & Agriculture
