Nitrogen is a reality of growing plants, and must be supplied to maximize crop yields.  At the same time our atmosphere is >70% nitrogen that is not usable by plants in its atmospheric form.  Humans have devised processes to “fix” nitrogen into plant usable forms, but they require energy and the products need to be transported, both leading to a substantial carbon footprint.  A number of microbes naturally fix nitrogen, yet do not form good associations with all plants.  Joyn Bio is a collaborative effort by a number of companies in chemistry and synthetic biology. Their CEO Dr. Michael Mille talks about efforts to engineer microbes that can form tight associations with crop plants and fix the nitrogen they need.  These strategies seek to lower the carbon footprint of farming, at the same time limiting nitrogen pollution by producing it directly in association with the plant that needs it.

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The Talking Biotech podcast is distinct from Dr. Kevin Folta's teaching and research roles at the University of Florida. The views expressed on the show are those of Dr. Folta and his guests, and do not reflect the opinions of the university or Colabra.