A hypothetical engineered nitrogen-fixing organism promoting wheat growth, highlighting current areas of focus for engineering nitrogenase in synthetic biology. (IMAGE)
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(A) Engineered nitrogen-fixing organisms convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, which promotes plant growth. (B) Engineered organisms exchange fixed nitrogen in the form of ammonia for carbon sources and other nutrients. They may also communicate with the plant through exchange of quorum signaling molecules (colored circles). Artificial oxygen protection systems may be employed to limit oxygen damage to nitrogenase. (C) Approaches used to optimize nitrogenase activity in heterologous contexts include inducible expression or overexpression of nitrogenase genes, tuning stoichiometries of nitrogenase proteins by altering promoters, engineering ribosome binding sites and codon usage, managing supply of ATP and electrons through incorporating additional electron donors, or supplying the organism with high concentrations of sugar, which mimics the exchange of nutrients present in a symbiotic association with plants.
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