651175 external_news 1632849400 1632849400 All life needs nitrogen, but most organisms can use only nitrogen that has been “fixed,” or transformed into a biologically useful form by microbes. A dearth of fixed nitrogen has even been invoked as an explanation for Earth’s “Boring Billion,” a 1-billion-year period in the Proterozoic when the expansion and evolution of life seem to have ground to a halt. A new study shows purple sulfur bacteria in Proterozoic-analogue Lake Cadagno, Switzerland, can fix nitrogen at rates comparable to the low end achieved by cyanobacteria. Jennifer Glass, associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences who was not involved in the study, comments on the research. 

]]> 2021-09-28 1278 364801