AgroScience Today, Volume 6, Issue 3 : 1096-1100

POPULAR ARTICLES

OPEN ACCESS | Published on : 31-Mar-2025

Nitroplast : A New Eukaryotic Organelle that Holds Great Promise for Sustainable Agriculture

• Asha S
• Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Kerala Agricultural University, Kerala, India.
• Adithyadeep D
• B.Tech (Biotechnology) student, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Kerala Agricultural University, Kerala, India.

Abstract

Nitroplast is a recently discovered eukaryotic organelle that functions in nitrogen-fixation. The first report of nitroplast was from the marine algae Braarudosphaera bigelowii, in which the endosymbiotic relationship of a nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria evolved into an organelle. Like other organelles, during the course of evolution, the genome of  the  endosymbiotic organism lost many important genes and hence it cannot exist independently. As the B. bigelowii  genome encodes most of the proteins required for the nitroplast, it is now regarded as an organelle. Engineering nitroplast enables autotrophic nitrogen fixation in crop plants, which in turn reduces the usage of chemical fertilizers, thereby leading to sustainable agricultural practices.

Keywords

Nitroplast, organelle, endosymbiont, sustainable agriculture

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