Lincoln Agritech on forefront of bacteria revolution

Lincoln Agritech Biotechnology Group (from left) Dr Richard Weld, Dr Johanna Steyaert, international intern Camille Vagner, Nicholas Glithero, PhD student Thomas Flinois and Simon Lee.

A new Lincoln Agritech research programme will find revolutionary ways of using naturally-occurring bacteria and fungi to increase the availability of nitrogen to plants and improve plants' tolerance to stress.

A second programme will work towards naturally removing 'off' flavours in wine.

Biotechnology team manager Dr Richard Weld, who is leading the research, says the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has awarded the programmes a combined $8.2m.

"This is a notable achievement for a small organisation."

The first of the two projects will benefit the forestry and pastoral sectors by allowing pine trees and grasses to convert atmospheric nitrogen into plant-available mineral nitrogen in the same way that legumes such as clover do, and by improving the plants' tolerance to stress.

Dr Weld says this can be achieved by optimising the natural microbial communities associated with the plants, thereby creating new symbioses between plants, bacteria and fungi.

"We will select bacteria that fix nitrogen and that enhance plant tolerance to stress," says Dr Weld. "These bacteria will then be combined in symbiotic association with two fungi which naturally live within plants.

"After this, the fungal-bacterial hybrids can be introduced to pine trees and perennial ryegrass. The combination will make the plants more resistant to stress and more able take up nitrogen."

Dr Weld says the five-year programme is world-leading, as no other researchers have attempted a triple symbiosis between fungi, bacteria and these plants.

The second research programme involves using bacteria with two unique features - they are naturally magnetic and have an unusual sulphur metabolism that allows them to derive energy from hydrogen sulphide.

This means they can be controlled using magnetic fields and used to remove hydrogen sulphide from wine, which can be responsible for 'off' flavours.

Dr Weld says the research will use the wine industry as an exemplar, but the technology can benefit other industries where hydrogen sulphide is also an issue.