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New nitrogen fixing organelle


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A marine algae and a nitrogen fixing bacteria have officially teamed up and the bacteria has become a new organelle inside a marine algae. The teaming up of nitrogen fixing bacteria and plants Is not a new (Azolla carolinensis)  is one but the bacteria is just in a communal relationship with the plant but this bacteria has actually become an organelle inside the algae cells much like mitochondria or chloroplasts in other cells, this new organelle has been dubbed Nitroplast. 

   https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2024/04/17/scientists-discover-first-nitrogen-fixing-organelle/

 

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After years of work, an international team found evidence that a once-independent nitrogen-fixing microbe has become a permanent resident within algae cells

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Adapted from a release by Erin Malsbury at UC Santa Cruz

Modern biology textbooks assert that only bacteria can take nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it into a form that is usable for life. Plants that fix nitrogen, such as legumes, do so by harboring symbiotic bacteria in root nodules. But a recent discovery upends that rule.

In two recent papers, an international team of scientists describe the first known nitrogen-fixing organelle within a eukaryotic cell. The organelle is the fourth example in history of primary endosymbiosis – the process by which a prokaryotic cell is engulfed by a eukaryotic cell and evolves beyond symbiosis into an organelle.

“It’s very rare that organelles arise from these types of things,” said Tyler Coale, a postdoctoral scholar at UC Santa Cruz and first author on one of two recent papers. “The first time we think it happened, it gave rise to all complex life. Everything more complicated than a bacterial cell owes its existence to that event,” he said, referring to the origins of the mitochondria. “A billion years ago or so, it happened again with the chloroplast, and that gave us plants,” Coale said.

The third known instance involves a microbe similar to a chloroplast. The organelle in this discovery has been named a nitroplast.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Moontanman said:

A marine algae and a nitrogen fixing bacteria have officially teamed up and the bacteria has become a new organelle inside a marine algae. The teaming up of nitrogen fixing bacteria and plants Is not a new (Azolla carolinensis)  is one but the bacteria is just in a communal relationship with the plant but this bacteria has actually become an organelle inside the algae cells much like mitochondria or chloroplasts in other cells, this new organelle has been dubbed Nitroplast. 

   https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2024/04/17/scientists-discover-first-nitrogen-fixing-organelle/

 

 

 

Has the organism's DNA been sequenced yet? I would like a DNA code for this organelle for research purposes.

Edited by Vmedvil
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19 hours ago, Moontanman said:

Google is your friend dude! 

Genomic data is not on google, Moontanman, however here is the genome of the organism from the government's NBCI website, Link = MAG TPA_asm: Candidatus Atelocyanobacterium thalassa isolate ERR594286 - Nucleotide - NCBI (nih.gov)

 

Though, the genome for Candidatus Atelocyanobacterium thalassa or "UCYN-A" is missing annotations thus it is impossible to tell what section is the organelle in question. 

Edited by Vmedvil
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3 hours ago, Vmedvil said:

Genomic data is not on google, Moontanman, however here is the genome of the organism from the government's NBCI website, Link = MAG TPA_asm: Candidatus Atelocyanobacterium thalassa isolate ERR594286 - Nucleotide - NCBI (nih.gov)

 

Though, the genome for Candidatus Atelocyanobacterium thalassa or "UCYN-A" is missing annotations thus it is impossible to tell what section is the organelle in question. 

Vmedvil, you do realize Google is just a tool to look up stuff... right? Google is not a source. 

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