News Life

This marine alga is the first known eukaryote to pull nitrogen from air

Until now, the only “nitrogen-fixing” organisms were thought to be prokaryotes such as bacteria

nitrogen-fixing organelle in alga

The unicellular algae Braarudospharea bigelowii (shown here in a 1000x magnification) is the first eukaryote known to fix nitrogen, thanks to its nitroplast organelle (arrow).

Tyler Coale

By Jake Buehler

It’s time to welcome a new type of cell to the club of living things that can harvest nitrogen from the atmosphere.

Until now, the only lifeforms thought to pull nitrogen from the air and turn it into a biologically useful form were bacteria and archaea.