• Question: Can bacteria help plants and if so which ones and how?

    Asked by to Amelia, Izzy, Sarah on 19 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Isabel Webb

      Isabel Webb answered on 19 Mar 2014:

      Great question – all about what I work on!

      All plants need nitrogen to build their DNA and proteins. This nitrogen comes in chemicals called nitrates and are taken up from the soil. They are made in the soil by bacteria that are able to change nitrogen into nitrates, something that plants can’t do.

      Some bacteria, called rhizobia, have formed a special relationship with pea plants and relatives of the pea like beans. These rhizobia move inside the plant root, and the plant lets them. Once inside the rhizobia turn into a factory, converting nitrogen to nitrates which they give straight to the plant they live inside. In return, the plant gives them sugar for energy. It is amazing that this relationship evolved, but it’s pretty cool.
      There is a similar thing that happens with fungi and plant roots.

      Two species that live and work together are called a ‘symbiosis’ – and this is what my field of plant science looks at.

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