Rhizobia are soil bacteria that can form a symbiotic relationship with legumes such as common domesticated crops such as peas, beans or clovers. These symbiotic bacteria fix atmospheric nitrogen inside nodules formed on the legume roots contributing around 65% of the nitrogen currently used in agricultural production.
A joint venture has been established between the Centre for Rhizobium Studies (CRS) led by Dr Wayne Reeve at Murdoch University (Australia) and the Joint Genome Institute (JGI, USA) led by the Head of the Microbial Program Dr Nikos Kyrpides to completely decipher the genetic code for 100 different rhizobial strains at a cost of approximately $10 million.
Read more on the Murdoch University news archive.