The National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), in collaboration with Tohoku University has revealed that the root nodule bacterium Bradyrhizobium ottawaense, which has high ability to mitigate the emission of nitrous oxide(N2O), a greenhouse gas(GHG), with high expression of the gene encoding the enzyme that converts N2O to N2. Co-inoculation of B. ottawaense with the plant growth promoting microorganism Pseudomonas bacterium(helper microorganism) to soybean plants, has resulted in the improvement of nitrogen fixation ability of the B. ottawaense and growth of soybean plants. Read more
The National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) has developed the "Rhizosphere Frame System" for live-imaging of the plant-microbe interactions between plant roots and symbiotic microorganisms in the soil. By this, NARO was able to continuously observe the process of establishing symbiotic relationship between rhizobia and legume roots in soil for the first time in the world.By using this system, the plant-microbe interactions will be further elucidated, and it is expected that this will lead to the development and promotion of efficient technologies for using rhizobia in agriculture, to reduce chemical fertilizer usage and greenhouse gas emissions. Read more
National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), in collaboration with Chiba University and Tokyo Institute of Technology, has developed a new technology that introduces enzymes necessary for genome editing into plant cells by short-time exposure to atmospheric pressure plasma. In the conventional genome editing technology, introduction of exogenous DNA is required, but this new technology does not require removal of exogenous DNA. Therefore, it is considered to be more convenient and applicable to various plants, and it is expected to become a new tool for breed improvement. Read more
The National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) has achieved a groundbreaking result in understanding the reproductive mechanism of symbiotic microorganisms in insects. In a recent study, researchers led by NARO successfully reproduced the phenomenon of sex reversal, or feminization, caused by the symbiotic microorganism Wolbachia in vitro. By extracting Wolbachia that has a feminizing effect from a lepidopteran pest insect called Ostrinia scapulalis, the research team transferred it into cultured cells established from male O. scapulalis. Read more
A "male-killing" virus that is transmitted from insect mothers to eggs and stops the male development has been discovered in a species of Drosophila (fly), and the genome structure of the virus has been determined. This is the first time that a male-killing gene has been identified in a virus. Given the existence of closely related viruses in a variety of insects, we anticipate that viruses with similar functions will be discovered in the near future. The elucidation of the male-killing mechanism will contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the insect sex-determining system, the development of insect pest control, and improvement of natural enemy of pest insects by controlling sex. Read more
