🧬 A marine alga just rewrote biology's textbook rule
For decades, students learned only bacteria can fix nitrogen from the air. In 2024, scientists found a tiny ocean alga has a real organelle - the "nitroplast" - that does it too. Only the 4th organelle born from endosymbiosis in 4 billion years of life.
news.ucsc.edu/2024/04/nitrogen…
Scientists discover first nitrogen-fixing organelle - News
In two recent papers, an international team led by UC Santa Cruz scientists describe the first known nitrogen-fixing organelle within a eukaryotic cell.Erin Malsbury (News)
Michael Gemar
in reply to jcrabapple • • •@rk This is really amazing in terms of basic science.
It could also have huge practical implications for agriculture, although I imagine there would be strong public pushback against food crops being modified to take advantage of this organelle.
jcrabapple
in reply to Michael Gemar • • •Michael Gemar
in reply to jcrabapple • • •