Towards establishing functional nitrogenase activities within plants

• Published in: Trends in biotechnology (Regular ed.)
• Main Authors: Liu, Fang (刘芳), Zhao, Zehong (赵泽宏), Fernie, Alisdair R, Zhang, Youjun (张有君)
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 28.05.2025
• Subjects: Biological nitrogen fixation; Directed evolution; Internal Medicine; Metal cluster assembly; Nitrogenase; Oxygen sensitivity; Synthetic biology; synthetic biology; biological nitrogen fixation; metal cluster assembly; nitrogenase; oxygen sensitivity; directed evolution; Synthetic biology; Directed evolution; Oxygen sensitivity; Biological nitrogen fixation; Metal cluster assembly; Nitrogenase
• ISSN: 0167-7799; 1879-3096; 1879-3096
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2025.04.020

HighlightsBiological nitrogen fixation, catalyzed by nitrogenase, presents a promising alternative to the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process, offering nitrogen fixation under mild conditions. Strategies to enhance nitrogen fixation in non-leguminous plants include identifying optimal hosts, engineering plant–diazotroph interactions, and directly expressing nitrogenase in plant cells. Fe-only nitrogenase, with simpler metal cluster assembly, offers a potential route to functional nitrogenase expression in eukaryotic systems like yeast. Engineering nitrogenase in yeast and plants faces challenges in protein stability, metal cluster biosynthesis, and oxygen sensitivity. Recent breakthroughs in synthetic biology and computational tools are accelerating nitrogenase engineering, with hopes to integrate these systems into plants for sustainable nitrogen fixation.