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<p>This episode: Incorporating light-absorbing molecules into bacterial membranes can allow bacteria to use solar energy to transform nitrogen gas into fertilizer!</p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href= "http://traffic.libsyn.com/bacteriofiles/BF486.mp3">Download Episode</a></span> (6.5 MB, 9.9 minutes)<br /> <br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Show notes:</span><br /> Microbe of the episode: Wheat dwarf virus</p> <div><strong> </strong></div> <div><strong>Takeaways</strong></div> <div>Turning nitrogen gas into biologically useful compounds, such as protein or ammonia for fertilizer, is an essential part of the global nitrogen cycle and therefore, for agriculture. Today much fertilizer is produced from nitrogen gas by a chemical process that requires large amounts of energy, contributing to global warming. But certain bacteria can perform the same process using special enzymes much more efficiently.<br /> <br /> In this study, a light-absorbing molecule was inserted into ...