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Science 331 (6019): 865-866

Copyright © 2011 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Unlocking the Door to Invasion

Attila Kereszt1,2, and Eva Kondorosi1,3

To increase crop yields, farmers use inorganic fertilizers that provide plants with usable forms of nitrogen and phosphorus. The production and application of fertilizers, however, requires huge amounts of fossil energy and causes pollution. To reduce these problems and support the growing human population, sustainable agriculture will require new plant varieties capable of supplying themselves with these elements. On page 909 of this issue, Op den Camp et al. (1) take a step toward this goal by describing a cell surface receptor that enables a plant to establish symbiotic relationships with both the bacteria and fungi that help it to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and take up phosphorus.

1 Institute for Plant Genomics, Human Biotechnology and Bioenergy, Bay Zoltan Foundation for Applied Research, Derkovits fasor 2, Szeged, Hungary.
2 Karoly Robert College, Matrai ut 36, Gyöngyös, Hungary.
3 Institut des Sciences du Végétal, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France.

E-mail: kereszta{at}baygen.hu; eva.kondorosi{at}isv.cnrs-gif.fr

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