Synthetic bacterium-facilitated colonization of nitrogen-fixing bacteria for remodeling the rhizosphere microbiome and improving plant yield
Shuo Liu, Zirun Zhao, Yuxin Ji, Hangqi Zhu, Yingfeng Sun, Mingchun Li, Qilin Yu · 2025
Read Synthetic bacterium-facilitated colonization of nitrogen-fixing bacteria for remodeling the rhizosphere microbiome and improving plant yield by Shuo Liu, Zirun Zhao, Yuxin Ji, Hangqi Zhu, Yingfeng Sun, Mingchun Li, Qilin Yu (2025) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-12772082.txt.
Description
Liu and co-authors engineered a helper bacterium that lets nitrogen-fixing bacteria settle on plant roots, boosting crop growth. Fixing bacteria feed plants nitrogen, but added strains often fail to colonize roots well. Their helper was modified to display a surface protein that grips the natural sugars on root surfaces. It was tested with two fixing species on two legume plants in soil.
The helper bound roots strongly and recruited far more of the fixing bacteria there. Treated soil held more nitrogen and organic matter, the nitrogen-fixing enzyme worked faster, and microbe profiles shifted toward nitrogen-handling groups. Yields of the test plant rose clearly, and a second legume showed the same pattern. The authors present the anchor-bacterium trick as a general way to make beneficial microbes stick where plants need them.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Shuo Liu, Zirun Zhao, Yuxin Ji, Hangqi Zhu, Yingfeng Sun, Mingchun Li, Qilin Yu |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2025 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 53 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |