Plant Design Online
Root nodules
The root nodules in this photo are about 1mm in diameter. They are filled with millions of Rhizobium bacteria, which provide the legume plant with biologically useable nitrogen, a compound that is essential but scarce in the biosphere.
When tiny root hairs come into contact with the soil-inhabiting Rhizobium bacteria, they are stimulated to grow around the bacteria. Once the bacteria are housed inside a compartment built by the plant, they multiply, fed by photosynthetic compounds such as glucose, which the plant supplies to the roots.
The bacteria gain glucose but provide the plant with nitrates, which are essential building blocks for proteins, DNA, and energy-supplying molecules such as ATP. Legumes and Rhizobium bacteria evolved this relationship over many millions of years.
Please join me in my blog “Botany Without Borders: Where Design Meets Science”
botanywithoutborders.blogspot.com/
Root nodules
The root nodules in this photo are about 1mm in diameter. They are filled with millions of Rhizobium bacteria, which provide the legume plant with biologically useable nitrogen, a compound that is essential but scarce in the biosphere.
When tiny root hairs come into contact with the soil-inhabiting Rhizobium bacteria, they are stimulated to grow around the bacteria. Once the bacteria are housed inside a compartment built by the plant, they multiply, fed by photosynthetic compounds such as glucose, which the plant supplies to the roots.
The bacteria gain glucose but provide the plant with nitrates, which are essential building blocks for proteins, DNA, and energy-supplying molecules such as ATP. Legumes and Rhizobium bacteria evolved this relationship over many millions of years.
Please join me in my blog “Botany Without Borders: Where Design Meets Science”
botanywithoutborders.blogspot.com/