Pullman, Wash.-A Washington State University agriculture researcher working with the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK, believes genetically modifying non-legume plants will allow crops such as wheat and corn to produce their own nitrogen. Through a process known as nodulation, legume plants such as beans and peas capture nitrogen available in the atmosphere by interacting with bacteria in the soil, which is triggered by the gene CCaMK (calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase). When the plant senses the bacteria, bumps – or nodules – form on the roots to trap nitrogen. According to a WSU press release, horticulture professor Joe Poovaiah and his team have succeeded in constructing an altered form of CCaMK that could trigger nodulation on roots without bacteria. The next step is for the altered form to be implemented into non-legume plants. Dr Giles Oldroyd at John Innes remarked, “The fact that we can induce the formation of nodules in the plant in the absence of the bacteria is an important first step in transferring this process to non-legumes.” Poovaiah said that will take another five years to achieve.
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