The Earth’s temperature has risen around 2.12 degrees Fahrenheit since the 1880s. A large portion of this change has been caused by an increase in greenhouse gas emissions due to the spread of industrial and agricultural practices. Nitrous oxide (N2O) makes up approximately seven percent of the United States’ total greenhouse gas emissions. Although this is a relatively small percentage, nitrous oxide is three hundred times more damaging than carbon dioxide and it stays in the atmosphere for 114 years before it can be removed from the atmosphere, making it a dangerous pollutant that significantly contributes to global warming. Around eighty percent of nitrous oxide emissions come from farming practices, primarily the use of chemical fertilizers. Nitrogen-based chemical fertilizers often contain nitrate and ammonia to provide the plants with a proper amount of nitrogen essential to its survival and reproduction. Agrobacterium in the soil denitrifies nitrate, releasing nitrous oxide in the process, largely contributing to emissions. The problem of nitrous oxide emissions needs to be addressed. One enzyme, nitrous oxide reductase (NOR), from the bacteria Pseudomonas stutzeri, breaks down nitrous oxide into nitrogen gas. Another enzyme, nitrogenase (NifH), transforms nitrogen gas into ammonia. Using both these enzymes in procession will fully digest harmful nitrous oxide into a usable and beneficial ammonia product. Our project will utilize agrobacterium mediated transformation by using a disarmed Ti-Plasmid from A. tumefaciens to insert the genes into the plants’ genome. This genetic construct, which codes for the nitrous oxide reductase enzyme and the nitrogenase enzyme, will be expressed in a tobacco plant. If successful, our project would simultaneously break down nitrous oxide and convert it into ammonia, providing nutrients to the plant stimulating growth, fruit development, and seedling production.

greeN2grOw: Plants to Remediate NO
School
Western Reserve Academy
Hudson, OH
BioBuilderClub Season
2021-2022 Season
Category
Resources