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Nitrogen-hungry bacteria added to farm soil curb greenhouse-gas emissions

Innovative solutions are needed to decrease greenhouse-gas emissions. Field trials show that supplementing farm soil with a bacterium that consumes the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide can substantially lower harmful emissions.
  1. Guang He

    1. Guang He is in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville, Tennessee 37922, USA.

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  2. Frank E. Löffler

    1. Frank E. Löffler is in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville, Tennessee 37922, USA.

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As the consequences of climate change become increasingly clear1,2, the global research community is being challenged to deliver innovative solutions that lower emissions of climate-warming gases. Writing in Nature, Hiis et al.3 report one such solution to decrease emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O, also known as laughing gas), which are associated with the application of nitrogen-containing fertilizer.

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Nature 630, 310-311 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01363-3

References

  1. IPCC. In Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (eds Lee, H. & Romero, J.) 35–115 (IPCC, 2023).

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  2. Jones, M. W. et al. Sci. Data 10, 155 (2023).

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  3. Hiis, E. G. et al. Nature 630, 421–428 (2024).

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  4. Smith, C., Hill, A. K. & Torrente-Murciano, L. Energy Environ. Sci. 13, 331–344 (2020).

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  5. Fowler, D. et al. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 368, 20130164 (2013).

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  6. Zhang, X. et al. Nature 528, 51–59 (2015).

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  7. Jonassen, K. R. et al. mBio 13, e00788-22 (2022).

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  8. He, G. et al. Nature Commun. 15, 4092 (2024).

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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