Unsolved mysteries in marine nitrogen fixation

Trends Microbiol. 2023 Aug 30:S0966-842X(23)00235-4. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2023.08.004. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTBiological nitrogen (N2) fixation is critical in global biogeochemical cycles and in sustaining the productivity of the oceans. There remain many unanswered questions, unresolved hypotheses, and unchallenged paradigms. The fundamental balance of N input and losses has not been fully resolved. One of the major N2-fixers, Trichodesmium, remains an enigma with intriguing biological and ecological secrets. Cyanobacterial N2 fixation, once thought to be primarily due to free-living cyanobacteria, now also appears to be dependent on microbial interactions, from microbiomes to unicellular symbioses, which remain poorly characterized. Nitrogenase genes associated with diverse non-cyanobacterial diazotrophs (NCDs) are prevalent, but their significance remains a huge knowledge gap. Answering questions, new and old, such as those discussed here, is needed to understand the ocean's N and C cycles and their responses to environmental change.PMID:37658011 | DOI:10.1016/j.tim.2023.08.004
Source: Trends in Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Source Type: research