Nitrogen is essential for life on Earth, yet most organisms cannot use it directly from the atmosphere. Scientists now believe this element may also provide important clues about how life first developed on our planet and how it might arise elsewhere in the universe.
“All living organisms need nitrogen to survive and, though it’s all around us, we can’t access it directly,” says Utah State University biochemist Lance Seefeldt. “Enzymes called nitrogenases enable nitrogen fixation, which converts nitrogen to a form plants, animals, humans, and other life forms can access. And we’re just beginning to understand the extent to which, over the Earth’s four-billion-year history, these nitrogenases have evolved.”
