A Grass Could Replace Arabidopsis as Model Plant

Researchers at the University of Missouri (MU) found that less dependence on nitrogen could start with Setaria viridis, a simple type of grass that promises to lay groundwork for scientists exploring the relationship between crops and the fixing nitrogen bacteria that provide them the amount of nitrogen that plants need daily. The team's experiments showed that S. viridis received 100% of its nitrogen needs from the bacteria Azospirillum brasilense when associated with plant root surfaces.

The grass can serve as a simple model for research, standing in for grass relatives, such as corn, rice, and sugarcane, to explore a similar relationship in those crops. The MU researchers, together with scientists in Brazil and the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, are working to identify the genes in S. viridis that are responsible for the interaction between plant and bacteria, and the ones involved in nitrogen uptake.

For more details, read the news release at the MU website.