Memorias de investigación
Conferencias:
NITROGENASE BIOTECHNOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
Año:2015
Áreas de investigación
  • Ciencias naturales y ciencias de la salud
Datos
Descripción
Nitrogenase is one of the most heavily studied proteins. This is not only because it serves as model to study metalloprotein biosynthesis and catalysis, but also due to its enormous ecological and agronomical importance. Biological N2 fixation, catalyzed by nitrogenase enzymes, is an essential part of the N cycle that accounts for about two-thirds of the total fixed N2 (most of the remainder is due to the Haber?Bosch process) and can be split into a natural component of the biosphere and an anthropogenic component promoted for agricultural purposes. The awareness that biological nitrogen fixation could be used as alternative to the synthetic N fertilizers in the implementation of modern sustainable agricultural practices is another underlying driving force of nitrogenase studies. The extensive use of synthetic N fertilizers in developed countries poses enormous environmental threats that must be addressed. In contrast, N fertilization is scarcely used in Sub-Saharan Africa deriving in very low crop yields, poverty and hunger. An ambitious challenge of plant biotechnology is to increase cereal crop productivity by engineering plants to fix their own nitrogen, i.e. by functional expression of bacterial N2 fixation (nif) genes in the plant. The apparent complexity of nitrogenase biosynthesis and its sensitivity to O2 are the main barriers identified so far. However, recent advances in our understanding of nitrogenase biosynthesis offer a new perspective over this ambitious agronomical objective. Nitrogenase is also regarded as a promising source of bio-H2. A new strategy to improve nitrogenase H2 production by implementing high throughput selection of randomly generated variants with altered catalytic properties will be discussed.
Internacional
Si
ISSN o ISBN
0000000000
Entidad relacionada
Aarhus University
Nacionalidad Entidad
DINAMARCA
Lugar del congreso
Aarhus. Dinamarca
Esta actividad pertenece a memorias de investigación
Participantes
Grupos de investigación, Departamentos, Centros e Institutos de I+D+i relacionados
  • Creador: Grupo de Investigación: BIOLOGÍA MOLECULAR Y COMPUTACIONAL
  • Centro o Instituto I+D+i: Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas, CBGP
  • Departamento: Biotecnología - Biología Vegetal