@@TheReferrer72Plenty! Kudzu grows fast and can fix nitrogen. It can grow over other plants, cut out their source of sunlight, and outcompete other plants. Rangers say jokingly but seriously, "When you're cutting kudzu, you don't stand in one place for very long." Plants created with these nitroplasts might work, but you'll have to watch them like kudzu. I wonder if they can be introduced into cotton so it could be grown year round?
@@ginnyjollykidd I imagine this would only be introduced into plants we want, like crops, and probably in controlled environments at first, but the benefits could be worth it
Discoveries like this usually never come to light in mainstream media because it is thought that most consumers aren't interested. Anton begs to differ. Best channel on UA-cam!
This is why I love this channel. It's not always about the outer Universe, instead being about the Earth, Life, and it's own mysteries. Thank You and Stay Wonderful, Anton
Imagine mitochondria, chloroplasts and nitroplast, all integrated into one sigle organism. Such organism can thrive anywhere there's water, CO2, N2 and light.
@@jasonlow6943... like: Crisper can I be modified so I can have my own Nitrogen fixing and fotosynthesis under my skin and then say good-bye to the food industries? haha 🤭
4:37 This is the thing with "airponics" or "hydroponics", there are literally thousands of important species in the soil, to the point where the soil is considered to be an organism on its own. Sure, monocultures can exist for a while, but did I mention biodiversity. In a recent lecture at the NIH a researcher asked the audience, "How many species are involved in the growth of an apple?" Expecting the answer, apple trees, and bees, and maybe some ants, and the researcher interrupted to say, "the answer is, We Don't Know, we are still counting." The soil is alive, it's a biome, fungi, plants, bacteria, archae, and I am reminded EVERY SPRING when the soil wakes up and spews spores into the air
@@Krunch2020he's saying, like how a bacteria is an organism, the totality of whats relative to soil acts exactly how an organism would due to the unknown quantity of microorganisms within the soil.
When you think of it a fish tank is a biome like this too with circulation. Just like you can make a mini rainforest in a jar. The earth is a biome or organelle. Just like how he was talking about fractals the other day there are a lot of things infinitely repeating on a micro and macro level.
Anton, a small correction, I'm fairly sure that the consensus is that mitochondria were the first endosymbiotic event, considering that this idea is supported by phylogenetic analysis indicating that they are an earlier development. And more importantly, plants/algae have both mitochondria and chloroplasts, in this case, if chloroplasts were first this would mean that mitochondria were assimilated twice, or that we are descended from algae and lost our chloroplasts during evolution. Anyway, great video!.
You make a fair point about the evidence supporting mitochondria being the earlier endosymbiotic event. Let me re-examine the evidence on both sides: The phylogenetic analyses indicating mitochondria evolved prior to chloroplasts is certainly compelling evidence in favor of that sequence of events. As you note, if chloroplasts had formed first, it would require two separate mitochondrial endosymbioses or primary loss of chloroplasts, both of which seem less parsimonious than a single mitochondrial endosymbiosis followed later by chloroplast acquisition. However, some researchers have argued that early interactions between prokaryotes leading to hydrogenosome or mitosome lineages muddy the chloroplast vs. mitochondrion branching order interpretation from phylogenies. And the metabolic capabilities of plastids could theoretically have evolved first if ancient cyanobacteria occupied photoautotrophic niches prior to aerobic conditions favoring mitochondrial respiration. Ultimately, you make a valid point - the mitochondrial-then-chloroplast scenario does minimize evolutionary steps needed. And the presence of both organelles in plants/algae supports mitochondria coming before plastids was the ancestral scenario. While alternative models have been proposed, the consensus view does seem to be that mitochondria represent the earlier endosymbiotic event based on current evidence
Once in a while Anton imparts something that fractures my scientific viewpoint and makes me mouth 'wow' at what I'm hearing. This is one of these moments.
I know what you mean & I already know plenty of science. I hope I never get to the stage where science is no longer wondrous to me, when I stop going wow at some astonishing new discovery.
@@Michaelno endosymbiosis is the thoery that organelles were originally their own living thing that, somewhere down the line of history, were absorbed by something else and lived in co-harmony. there is some strong evidence to suggest that something like mitochondria were at one point their own separate living thing, but were absorbed by one of our extremely early ancestors and then lived in harmony. i simplified it heavily but you get the idea.
@@basketcaseface813 Their own living things? They can no more live on their own as your heart can live on its own without the rest of your body. Machines inside the cell read DNA and make the organelles, they don't just pop out of a magic pond.
@@basketcaseface813 Wait so if they were absorbed then how were they present in their next generation? Shouldn't only the organism that absorbed them exist?
Omg engineering nitroplast into grain crops like wheat, rice, and corn would be an insane game changer. I mean we could finally use a lot of previously abandoned soils and it would be a revolution equal to the discovering of ammonia and nitrogen fertilizer in the late 1800's. Wow i hope i live to see that level of jump in our agriculture
True, it must have great potential. I feel however almost threatened by this news. This is huge. It could disrupt in a major way the land based ecosystems.. we would give this organism a step up that alters the course of evolution in a unpredictable way. But theres no stopping humankind 😅
I suspect that adding nitroplast to plants would cause them to consume more energy as the nitroplast fix nitrogen. It might mean slower growth and fewer carbohydrates in fruits and vegetables, while increasing the capacity growth in nitrogen poor soils without having to add fertaliser. But it would be wonderful to have grasses make nitrogen and reclame lands poor in nitrogen. Maybe it would be better to grow nitrogen fixing bacteria in vats. Could we make it less energy intensive than haber-bosch process?
I have subscriptions to Science and Nature (it is hard to believe how inexpensive you can get it, $50-$75 per year each), but I really absorb what Anton presents much better. There are a few channels where theoretical physicists leave me in the dust when they start to talk about non-locality and Bell’s Theorem, even quantum computing and entanglement can be rough, but Anton is just that perfect speed for me. So, thanks Anton for making science papers and breakthroughs accessible.
@@ruthnovena40the system is already broken. Something like 50% of the billions of people on the planet works starve to death if we stopped using nitrogen fertilizer. If the species had stopped growing several billion ago, I would agree with you. We are currently enslaved to a fertilizer process which pumps ridiculous amounts of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. That atmosphere is nearly broken now as well and we won't be stopping any time soon.
Anton, you are the most dedicated science communicator I've ever known of and I really appreciate you digging through all these papers to find such relevant / amazing stuff for me to learn. Thanks buddy
I'm no biologist, but I assume it more complicated than simply getting nitroplast symbiosis within plant cells (which already sounds difficult). If plants are relying on a culture of bacteria surrounding their roots to fix the nitrogen, then some new system would have to be created for the plant to get the nitroplasts into the soil, or somehow suck in surrounding soil/air nitrogen.
The "scientist" or rather the group of scientists who pull that off aren´t going to be rich, the corporation they work for will be even more super ultra rich. The grunts who do the work might not even get a raise.
Wow, I was trying to find your email and make a suggestion you cover this story as it appears really amazing and could be a great subject for an episode! I’m going to enjoy watching this video later tonight!!
I'd love to get some updates on this new nitrogen fixing organelle as more research results come in! It's very interesting to find out that cellular symbiosis and the production of novel organelles is something happening across geological time! The chromatophore only 100 million years old is pretty recent, geologically! Fascinating!
Legumes, red alders, and a few other plants can fix nitrogen as part of their actual root systems (root nodules) as opposed to an exchange with bacteria in the soil itself (though I believe it is more of a cell to cell interdependence of the plants and bacteria, versus the cellular level incorporation Anton is talking about). This is really neat. Having all plants able to fix nitrogen on their own without bacteria helping and without substantial nitrogen amendments would be a huge game-changer for agriculture.
Yes, for example soybean root nodules host Frankia bacteria which fix gaseous nitrogen to a usable form. But how do the bacteria do it? Do they, in turn, host a former symbiot organelle, or do they poses the ability in their own genetic makeup?
Fascinating! Just to be clear, plant cells have *_both_* chloroplasts *_and_* mitochondria. This is something a lot of beginning biology students get a little wrong, thinking that they represent a contrast between plants and animals: one organelle for plants and the other for animals. But no, mitochondria are essential! Plants have both. (This also makes me wonder about your comment that chloroplasts came first; is that known for sure? It's possible, but it would make more sense for mitochondria to have come first, since they are shared among a more distant common ancestor.) One thing I don't think was mentioned in this video... have they determined what living bacterium is most closely related to these nitroplasts? It would be interesting to know. Similar analyses have identified what living bacteria are most closely related to mitochondria and chloroplasts. (In fact, I just looked it up, and apparently the bacterium most closely related to chloroplasts just happens to be a nitrogen-fixing bacterium, which might add an additional interesting wrinkle to this story.)
Hey Anton, thanks for another amazing video, and btw we look forward to hearing your thoughts about the reconnection with Voyager 1. Who can not be astonished that we can reboot and troubleshoot a vintage computer that is 15 billion miles away
Blows my mind that this video still has significantly less views than all of his recent videos. This is big news, and shows we’ve just barely scratched the surface of biology and that there are likely so many other species and biological systems hiding right under our noses! I hope Anton continues to cover biology discoveries in between the other content, but I’m here for all of it either way!
gotta admit, Anton, you rock. I would love to understand half of what you do. I have a small museum with a grapefruit size duodecahedron model purchased from the Portland Art Museum, that I used to think was just a beautiful geometric shape. So I am thrilled to see that its “sacred geometry” is applied in the natural world. Thanks for the tip!
It's hard not to love Anton, bringing us interesting science and deepening our understanding and appreciation for the world and universe. Thank you Anton !
Cells are an example of society at its finest. A give and take that ends jn a beautiful life. It's so weird how complex our bodies are, and it's all so beautiful.
there is such a wealth of information from these videos. You are clearly not english first language but you explain really complicated stuff without using the big technical words. Props for learning english and reading abstractions and dumbing it down so that all of us peasants can actually understand what's going on. Eric Weinstein mentioned how there are no explanations of where we are in science that a normal person could understand and now education is turning into a club of rich people because it takes money to go to a college or University. This is God's work you're doing man, seriously, thank you so much for what you do.
I have watched many videos in the last few years. This one just freaks me out so much nothing I’ve ever seen challenges, my attitudes and beliefs, and watching those fractal objects in my new form without explanation for forming.
@@2019inuyasha Bacteria already do that, and they're already present in the soil; the problem is how the plants can make use of them more effectively, if at all. Of course the solution is to make an endosymbiont out of them, and it turns out they already exist which is the subject of this video.
If plants started having nitroplasts we would have a big problem. That's a huge evolutionary advantage and whatever organisms are given such genes will quickly become invasive. It's not something that can naturally evolve any time soon so there's no way for other plants to compete or cooperate with them. Any nitrogen-poor soil would be overrun and converted to nitrogen-rich soil which is bad news for entire biomes. Genetic engineering is a powerful tool but it must be used carefully and with wisdom. Look at golden rice versus Monsanto corn; the former feeding millions of people and the latter destroying swathes of farmland. Let us hope that it remains a difficult tool to use and no one invents a gene printer.
Hello, Anton! One thing that I've wondered about is how much time you generally spend a day finding and reading research articles/papers? It amazes me that you consistently find such incredibly interesting topics to discuss.
Cultivating nitroplasts |edit: Coccolithophores| to produce a nitrogen rich agricultural lime seems a more doable implementation and less of a potential sci-fi killer tomato thriller than genetically modifying plants to produce their own nitrogen.
The plant Azolla has a symbiotic relationship with Anabaena azollae that provides nitrogen to the fern using nitrogen fixation, and the fern provides a habitat for the alga. It’s amazing! The organisms have evolved together for millions of years. Wish more people knew about it! Please look into it!
Let me remind you a premise for "Interstellar" movie. In 2067 a lifeform "blight" destroys plants, to the point of famines and dust storms being a usual everywhere on the planet. So humanity must find another planet to live. Blight breathes nitrogen and destroys oxygen in the atmosphere in the process and is unstoppable. So lets just be very careful while trying to integrate this new "nitroplast" in our plants. :)
This is kinda off topic, but that shape would make an excellent semi-rigid inflatable tent! Or even a system of rigid panels that could fold in on itself for transport and storage. Another great video from Anton as usual. Thankyou for all the amazing content you create.
Hi Anton, you do a great job to inform us with the latest science advancements. Thanks. But please be aware that the mitochondrion merely exist as a bean like structure in case of cellular stress. Healthy cells contain a mitochondrial network consisting of elongated tubes. Can send you a few links. The bean like structures which are usually shown are mostly artists impressions and are derived from cross sections from electron micrographs; a cross section from elongated tubes gives circular and bean like appearance.
Anton you are the only [science] UA-camr without a PhD I listen to. Anytime I research topics you cover, I find you stay true to the science and the only assumptions you seem to make are when you first give us an opinion warning.
Hey Anton, I love you and I want to thank you for all the scientific input and inspiration. I’m activity is a hard thing to keep in science and you are the guy to keep that objective I thank you
I was pleasently surprised that you seem to have significantly reduced the visual eye-candy and concentrated on such visuals that actually convey helpful information. More of that please :-)
love your in depth and yet explained like for a 5 graders topics! Your channel is awesome Anton, but why no monetisation (ads)? Did youtube being youtube again?
There are already nitrogen fixing legume plants. Dr white has also uncovered how the roots eat some of these bacteria and they are trapped inside the roots. I don’t really like the sound of genetically modifying anymore plants or microbes. We don’t have a very good long term track record when we do this. Thank you for the video. Fascinating topics yet again!
What a perspective to think of our bodies as an aggregation of disparate symbiotic organisms working together. There’s a UA-cam doctor, Jason Fung, who talks about cancer from that perspective. Truly amazing and mysterious.
There is this common idea - and one I used to share - that the endosymbionts were 'engulfed' by their host bacteria. But I know there are people in the field who are advancing the idea that the ancestor of the eukaryotic cell was actually a colony of cells, each specialized in some way. So the internal structures in eukaryotic cells arose from the superstructure of the colonies.
Good one, Anton! Always thrilling to hear about new forms of life! The Human population shall immensely benefit if this Nitroplast is adaptable to agriculture. Compliments for a superb presentation! ♾
Love this! But I’d just like to mention that there’s an inaccuracy around 1:45 - Metabolically competent, active and non pathogenic cell-free mitochondria are a [relatively] newly recognized phenomenon that have upended our understanding on the roles played by mitochondria in a variety of organisms, including us. Thanks!
Not to forget to give credit to Lynn Margulis for reviving and expanding modern endosymbiosis theory. You’ll like her. Quite the iconoclastic scientist.
whoa whoa whoa whoa.........whoa. So from an agricultural perspective, you're saying with the introduction of nitroplasts to various plant species, it is theoretically possible to produce plants which can thrive in any climate or environment. We could have plants indigenous to remote parts of the planet that are needed for medicinal purposes grown effortlessly in a garden. The real world application of something like that is actually mindblowing.
I love when scientists say "And at some point something happened..." - We all know what happened, it did a "Leap-Evo", that's an evolutionary step that can't be explained.
fantastic videos. such well researched and explained new scientific discoveries. THANK YOU! PS: but why oh why is your audio quality so BASS HEAVY? please fix for better listening experience, since the bass makes the speaking voice harder to understand.
An organelle fixing atmospheric nitrogen is a pretty important find. Kudos to Anton for prompt reporting!
Yes add it to plants what can go wrong?
@TheReferrer72 nothing at all! Its not like Nitrogen is, *checks notes* 78% of the atmosphere!
That is, beyond legumes and kudzu.
@@TheReferrer72Plenty!
Kudzu grows fast and can fix nitrogen. It can grow over other plants, cut out their source of sunlight, and outcompete other plants. Rangers say jokingly but seriously, "When you're cutting kudzu, you don't stand in one place for very long."
Plants created with these nitroplasts might work, but you'll have to watch them like kudzu.
I wonder if they can be introduced into cotton so it could be grown year round?
@@ginnyjollykidd I imagine this would only be introduced into plants we want, like crops, and probably in controlled environments at first, but the benefits could be worth it
Discoveries like this usually never come to light in mainstream media because it is thought that most consumers aren't interested. Anton begs to differ. Best channel on UA-cam!
Why name us as 'consumers' Sir? Consumers of knowledge?
Quite impossible in my view . . .
@@gyrogearloose1345 Consumers of Ideas. There is no "knowledge" per say.
1. Based on your sentence and common usage, “media” would be the thing we consume
2. Per se* (both Latin words)
3. Forgive me 🙇🏻♀️
@@PartlyXenon I stand corrected on both counts.
@@PartlyXenon Tibi gratias ago pro responso tuo. Miror quid sibi velit.
This is why I love this channel. It's not always about the outer Universe, instead being about the Earth, Life, and it's own mysteries.
Thank You and Stay Wonderful, Anton
Agree
Anton has excellent taste in his selection of scientific news
Imagine mitochondria, chloroplasts and nitroplast, all integrated into one sigle organism. Such organism can thrive anywhere there's water, CO2, N2 and light.
Yea that's just a legume. Last time I checked Kidney beans haven't taken over the world yet
@@spanner5940yet
Crisper we have a big ask in mind...
@@jasonlow6943... like: Crisper can I be modified so I can have my own Nitrogen fixing and fotosynthesis under my skin and then say good-bye to the food industries? haha 🤭
Would we call it....a triffid?
4:37 This is the thing with "airponics" or "hydroponics", there are literally thousands of important species in the soil, to the point where the soil is considered to be an organism on its own. Sure, monocultures can exist for a while, but did I mention biodiversity.
In a recent lecture at the NIH a researcher asked the audience, "How many species are involved in the growth of an apple?" Expecting the answer, apple trees, and bees, and maybe some ants, and the researcher interrupted to say, "the answer is, We Don't Know, we are still counting." The soil is alive, it's a biome, fungi, plants, bacteria, archae, and I am reminded EVERY SPRING when the soil wakes up and spews spores into the air
Huh??
@@Krunch2020he's saying, like how a bacteria is an organism, the totality of whats relative to soil acts exactly how an organism would due to the unknown quantity of microorganisms within the soil.
Symbiosis. 👍
When you think of it a fish tank is a biome like this too with circulation. Just like you can make a mini rainforest in a jar. The earth is a biome or organelle. Just like how he was talking about fractals the other day there are a lot of things infinitely repeating on a micro and macro level.
You could say the world with all its galaxies is a biome
Anton, a small correction, I'm fairly sure that the consensus is that mitochondria were the first endosymbiotic event, considering that this idea is supported by phylogenetic analysis indicating that they are an earlier development. And more importantly, plants/algae have both mitochondria and chloroplasts, in this case, if chloroplasts were first this would mean that mitochondria were assimilated twice, or that we are descended from algae and lost our chloroplasts during evolution.
Anyway, great video!.
You make a fair point about the evidence supporting mitochondria being the earlier endosymbiotic event. Let me re-examine the evidence on both sides:
The phylogenetic analyses indicating mitochondria evolved prior to chloroplasts is certainly compelling evidence in favor of that sequence of events. As you note, if chloroplasts had formed first, it would require two separate mitochondrial endosymbioses or primary loss of chloroplasts, both of which seem less parsimonious than a single mitochondrial endosymbiosis followed later by chloroplast acquisition.
However, some researchers have argued that early interactions between prokaryotes leading to hydrogenosome or mitosome lineages muddy the chloroplast vs. mitochondrion branching order interpretation from phylogenies. And the metabolic capabilities of plastids could theoretically have evolved first if ancient cyanobacteria occupied photoautotrophic niches prior to aerobic conditions favoring mitochondrial respiration.
Ultimately, you make a valid point - the mitochondrial-then-chloroplast scenario does minimize evolutionary steps needed. And the presence of both organelles in plants/algae supports mitochondria coming before plastids was the ancestral scenario. While alternative models have been proposed, the consensus view does seem to be that mitochondria represent the earlier endosymbiotic event based on current evidence
Im a believer in adaptation, not evolution we did not come from a lower life form
@@stanleydavidson6543 what's the difference? We all start as small organisms. And had to adapt, so evolved to survive.
Once in a while Anton imparts something that fractures my scientific viewpoint and makes me mouth 'wow' at what I'm hearing. This is one of these moments.
Well, science constantly changes that's how it works until better science is discovered and proven.
I wish I was a tenth as smart as this guy. Hello, Wonderful Instructor!
What is so surprising about this?
@@EricDMMiller I guess then that you do not number among the smart asses, even though it appears that you are trying very hard.
I know what you mean & I already know plenty of science. I hope I never get to the stage where science is no longer wondrous to me, when I stop going wow at some astonishing new discovery.
This discovery is amazing; a very strong evidence for the theory of endosymbiosis and thus a revolution in biology.
Life is truly weird.
It wouldn't surprise me if the microbiome helps produce mitochondria maybe through horizontal gene transfer
I wish I knew what you were talking about. It sounds important
@@Michaelno endosymbiosis is the thoery that organelles were originally their own living thing that, somewhere down the line of history, were absorbed by something else and lived in co-harmony. there is some strong evidence to suggest that something like mitochondria were at one point their own separate living thing, but were absorbed by one of our extremely early ancestors and then lived in harmony. i simplified it heavily but you get the idea.
@@basketcaseface813 Their own living things? They can no more live on their own as your heart can live on its own without the rest of your body. Machines inside the cell read DNA and make the organelles, they don't just pop out of a magic pond.
@@basketcaseface813 Wait so if they were absorbed then how were they present in their next generation? Shouldn't only the organism that absorbed them exist?
*THEY FOUND ME!*
😂
Now its your turn. Count to 100
Jesus or aliens?
Ladies and gentlemen we got em
You are so 12 sided!
Omg engineering nitroplast into grain crops like wheat, rice, and corn would be an insane game changer. I mean we could finally use a lot of previously abandoned soils and it would be a revolution equal to the discovering of ammonia and nitrogen fertilizer in the late 1800's.
Wow i hope i live to see that level of jump in our agriculture
True, it must have great potential. I feel however almost threatened by this news. This is huge. It could disrupt in a major way the land based ecosystems.. we would give this organism a step up that alters the course of evolution in a unpredictable way. But theres no stopping humankind 😅
Create the nitroplast-into-plants foundation to make it happen
You could grow plants in no soil at all. So long as you had water and co2 plus the other trace elents needed, you would never see fallow soil again.
I suspect that adding nitroplast to plants would cause them to consume more energy as the nitroplast fix nitrogen. It might mean slower growth and fewer carbohydrates in fruits and vegetables, while increasing the capacity growth in nitrogen poor soils without having to add fertaliser.
But it would be wonderful to have grasses make nitrogen and reclame lands poor in nitrogen.
Maybe it would be better to grow nitrogen fixing bacteria in vats. Could we make it less energy intensive than haber-bosch process?
FREE AUTOMATED FARMS!!! FREE FOOD PLEEAASEEE 😢🙏
6:55 A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON
...still better than picking up that stupid "Unusual Gem".
GOD DAMN IT!
Lol I just posted the same comment. Great minds think alike.
I freaked out when I saw it, damn PTSD. I heard her voice too!
LISTEN! HEAR ME AND OBEY!
I have subscriptions to Science and Nature (it is hard to believe how inexpensive you can get it, $50-$75 per year each), but I really absorb what Anton presents much better. There are a few channels where theoretical physicists leave me in the dust when they start to talk about non-locality and Bell’s Theorem, even quantum computing and entanglement can be rough, but Anton is just that perfect speed for me. So, thanks Anton for making science papers and breakthroughs accessible.
I really enjoy your videos! It's so great to have somebody who doesn't just trade in clickbait. Keep it up! 👍
The possibilities for plants that could fix their own nitrogen are awesome.
I am currently doing an internship in a Munich lab studying this topic. It will be very hard, but promising :)
Why break what is not broken..
@@ruthnovena40the system is already broken. Something like 50% of the billions of people on the planet works starve to death if we stopped using nitrogen fertilizer. If the species had stopped growing several billion ago, I would agree with you. We are currently enslaved to a fertilizer process which pumps ridiculous amounts of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. That atmosphere is nearly broken now as well and we won't be stopping any time soon.
@@ruthnovena40 Mitochondria and chloroplasts were a win.
i dont think they would be considered plants anymore. This may be the beginning of a new kingdom of life
Outstanding work!!!putting a lot of very complex information to make sense of our world with significance. Thank you so much!
Thanks for covering inner space as well...
Anton, you are the most dedicated science communicator I've ever known of and I really appreciate you digging through all these papers to find such relevant / amazing stuff for me to learn. Thanks buddy
Mind blown! You did it again Anton! Mother nature never ceases to amaze me! Both Macro and Micro wonders!
Introducing this nitroplast into plant cells would be a huge gamechanger. The scientist who can pull that off is going to be rich. Very rich
I'm no biologist, but I assume it more complicated than simply getting nitroplast symbiosis within plant cells (which already sounds difficult). If plants are relying on a culture of bacteria surrounding their roots to fix the nitrogen, then some new system would have to be created for the plant to get the nitroplasts into the soil, or somehow suck in surrounding soil/air nitrogen.
@@Alicorn_ or alter the skin structure of the leafs to allow efficient nitrogen fixation (they still need roots for anatomic reasons)
The "scientist" or rather the group of scientists who pull that off aren´t going to be rich, the corporation they work for will be even more super ultra rich. The grunts who do the work might not even get a raise.
On the flip side, any scientist or corporation that tries it but fails will be bankrupt, or at least their investors are.
Anton.....you get the best cutting edge science......I really enjoy your content and presentation.....looking forward to more ........😊.
Wow, I was trying to find your email and make a suggestion you cover this story as it appears really amazing and could be a great subject for an episode! I’m going to enjoy watching this video later tonight!!
Many thanks Anton for describing this incredible discovery
I read about this earlier today and my first thought was Anton will cover this!
I'd love to get some updates on this new nitrogen fixing organelle as more research results come in! It's very interesting to find out that cellular symbiosis and the production of novel organelles is something happening across geological time! The chromatophore only 100 million years old is pretty recent, geologically! Fascinating!
Legumes, red alders, and a few other plants can fix nitrogen as part of their actual root systems (root nodules) as opposed to an exchange with bacteria in the soil itself (though I believe it is more of a cell to cell interdependence of the plants and bacteria, versus the cellular level incorporation Anton is talking about). This is really neat. Having all plants able to fix nitrogen on their own without bacteria helping and without substantial nitrogen amendments would be a huge game-changer for agriculture.
And even better, having plants that can fix nitrogen using their leafs
Yes, for example soybean root nodules host Frankia bacteria which fix gaseous nitrogen to a usable form. But how do the bacteria do it? Do they, in turn, host a former symbiot organelle, or do they poses the ability in their own genetic makeup?
Or we upset the balance of nature. There must be a reason not all plants fix nitrogen.
Totally fascinating. Thank you, Anton! Yours is absolutely one of the best channels on UA-cam :-)
A nitroplast enhanced chlorophyll plant sounds like the world's most invasive species just waiting to happen.
I feel like its my birthday every time anton posts not boring black hole/dark metter video, but tru science content. I learn here a lot, thank you
This was so well put together. As always 🙌
Tyler Coale used to work in the research lab I’m currently in, seeing him on your channel is mind blowing
The return to biology is great to see!
One of the biggest discoveries of all time. Please keep updating us on any new information or discoveries concerning these “nitroplasts”. Thank you!
Fascinating! Just to be clear, plant cells have *_both_* chloroplasts *_and_* mitochondria. This is something a lot of beginning biology students get a little wrong, thinking that they represent a contrast between plants and animals: one organelle for plants and the other for animals. But no, mitochondria are essential! Plants have both. (This also makes me wonder about your comment that chloroplasts came first; is that known for sure? It's possible, but it would make more sense for mitochondria to have come first, since they are shared among a more distant common ancestor.)
One thing I don't think was mentioned in this video... have they determined what living bacterium is most closely related to these nitroplasts? It would be interesting to know. Similar analyses have identified what living bacteria are most closely related to mitochondria and chloroplasts.
(In fact, I just looked it up, and apparently the bacterium most closely related to chloroplasts just happens to be a nitrogen-fixing bacterium, which might add an additional interesting wrinkle to this story.)
current consensus is mitochondria came first, supported by genetic evidence, but not a 100% certain thing.
@@tsm688 Thanks. I figured!
It's a Cyanobacteria that was "swallowed" by an algae
This is super interesting! Great job covering this Anton!
Hello wonderful anton. Thank you for more science news and updates. Stay amazing, stay awesome.
Thank you for all the wonderful information that you are providing us,,,🌷🌷👏👏🙏🙏
Hey Anton, thanks for another amazing video, and btw we look forward to hearing your thoughts about the reconnection with Voyager 1. Who can not be astonished that we can reboot and troubleshoot a vintage computer that is 15 billion miles away
Truth! Voyager has blown my mind at its performance.
*A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON!*
Thats what it reminded me as well! Skyrim will be always special!!
@@Seredhieal Always indeed!
I want to know who is breaking all the nitrogen in the first place.
Mushrooms
😑
Thanks for the dad joke.
Us eukaryotic cells.
John Wick
Blows my mind that this video still has significantly less views than all of his recent videos. This is big news, and shows we’ve just barely scratched the surface of biology and that there are likely so many other species and biological systems hiding right under our noses! I hope Anton continues to cover biology discoveries in between the other content, but I’m here for all of it either way!
Very clearly explained. Thank you.
Thanks for another awesome video Anton. 🙏
Amazing I very look forward to future updates on this topic!
I love the way Anton says nitrogen!
Absolutely fascinating. Biology completely humbles me in it's complexity, even more so now! Thank you for Another mind blowing video Anton - you rock!
They have discovered the tiniest D12 ever. The dice goblin within me now wants a microscope
I was thinking that my D12 is now Nitroplast!
gotta admit, Anton, you rock. I would love to understand half of what you do. I have a small museum with a grapefruit size duodecahedron model purchased from the Portland Art Museum, that I used to think was just a beautiful geometric shape. So I am thrilled to see that its “sacred geometry” is applied in the natural world. Thanks for the tip!
Wonderful as always Anton. Thank you. 😁
It's hard not to love Anton, bringing us interesting science and deepening our understanding and appreciation for the world and universe. Thank you Anton !
Really interesting. Thanks.
Absolutely wonderful educational as always. I watch these twice to enjoy and learn hands down one of the best. Thanks million.
Fascinating and informative as always.
It's a great time to be alive to witness all of these advancements in all areas of knowledge.
Cells are an example of society at its finest. A give and take that ends jn a beautiful life.
It's so weird how complex our bodies are, and it's all so beautiful.
there is such a wealth of information from these videos. You are clearly not english first language but you explain really complicated stuff without using the big technical words. Props for learning english and reading abstractions and dumbing it down so that all of us peasants can actually understand what's going on. Eric Weinstein mentioned how there are no explanations of where we are in science that a normal person could understand and now education is turning into a club of rich people because it takes money to go to a college or University. This is God's work you're doing man, seriously, thank you so much for what you do.
So very interesting!! 😊
I have watched many videos in the last few years. This one just freaks me out so much nothing I’ve ever seen challenges, my attitudes and beliefs, and watching those fractal objects in my new form without explanation for forming.
I think we should let nature handle introducing nitroplasts. However, it could be an interesting terraforming technique.
That's never going to happen in nature alone.
Perhaps this could ability could be given to bacteria that is then used as a safer fertilizer.
@@2019inuyasha Bacteria already do that, and they're already present in the soil; the problem is how the plants can make use of them more effectively, if at all. Of course the solution is to make an endosymbiont out of them, and it turns out they already exist which is the subject of this video.
Thank you Anton, I was so hyped to know more about this recently discovered organelle❤
If plants started having nitroplasts we would have a big problem. That's a huge evolutionary advantage and whatever organisms are given such genes will quickly become invasive. It's not something that can naturally evolve any time soon so there's no way for other plants to compete or cooperate with them. Any nitrogen-poor soil would be overrun and converted to nitrogen-rich soil which is bad news for entire biomes.
Genetic engineering is a powerful tool but it must be used carefully and with wisdom. Look at golden rice versus Monsanto corn; the former feeding millions of people and the latter destroying swathes of farmland. Let us hope that it remains a difficult tool to use and no one invents a gene printer.
This is literally mind blowing. Your best video yet! Thank you.
Yeah, let's engineer a plant with nitroplasts.
If it's escapes the lab..... and spreads like weed, superseding all plants.... what can go wrong?
Plants don't spread like viruses; any lab leaks of experimental plants is vastly way easier to manage or control.
the dinosaur family ending irl
Great info. Thank you for making this video.
Sounds like the The Blight from Interstellar, an organism the consumes nitrogen but kills all current plant life..
Yeahhhh that was my first thought when I read the announcement last week. Yikes. Scary stuff.
Hello, Anton! One thing that I've wondered about is how much time you generally spend a day finding and reading research articles/papers? It amazes me that you consistently find such incredibly interesting topics to discuss.
Cultivating nitroplasts |edit: Coccolithophores| to produce a nitrogen rich agricultural lime seems a more doable implementation and less of a potential sci-fi killer tomato thriller than genetically modifying plants to produce their own nitrogen.
But CRISPR is so cool... until we have zombie tomatoes
Slippery slope
The plant Azolla has a symbiotic relationship with Anabaena azollae that provides nitrogen to the fern using nitrogen fixation, and the fern provides a habitat for the alga. It’s amazing! The organisms have evolved together for millions of years. Wish more people knew about it! Please look into it!
LOAD UP THE NITROPLAST
The nitroplasts are coming for us 😱
I always enjoy these videos. Thank you for bringing them to us.
Let me remind you a premise for "Interstellar" movie. In 2067 a lifeform "blight" destroys plants, to the point of famines and dust storms being a usual everywhere on the planet. So humanity must find another planet to live. Blight breathes nitrogen and destroys oxygen in the atmosphere in the process and is unstoppable. So lets just be very careful while trying to integrate this new "nitroplast" in our plants. :)
This is kinda off topic, but that shape would make an excellent semi-rigid inflatable tent! Or even a system of rigid panels that could fold in on itself for transport and storage. Another great video from Anton as usual. Thankyou for all the amazing content you create.
You shouldn't that lemur licking your hair, that's how I lost mine.
Hi Anton, you do a great job to inform us with the latest science advancements. Thanks. But please be aware that the mitochondrion merely exist as a bean like structure in case of cellular stress. Healthy cells contain a mitochondrial network consisting of elongated tubes. Can send you a few links. The bean like structures which are usually shown are mostly artists impressions and are derived from cross sections from electron micrographs; a cross section from elongated tubes gives circular and bean like appearance.
If you don't exercise, all of this slows down and you become weaker and weaker, eventually unable to fight off disease.
Anton you are the only [science] UA-camr without a PhD I listen to. Anytime I research topics you cover, I find you stay true to the science and the only assumptions you seem to make are when you first give us an opinion warning.
Hey Anton, I love you and I want to thank you for all the scientific input and inspiration. I’m activity is a hard thing to keep in science and you are the guy to keep that objective I thank you
I was pleasently surprised that you seem to have significantly reduced the visual eye-candy and concentrated on such visuals that actually convey helpful information. More of that please :-)
love your in depth and yet explained like for a 5 graders topics! Your channel is awesome Anton, but why no monetisation (ads)? Did youtube being youtube again?
Fascinating. Imagine the effect on staple crops like corn if they could fix their own nitrogen.
There are already nitrogen fixing legume plants. Dr white has also uncovered how the roots eat some of these bacteria and they are trapped inside the roots. I don’t really like the sound of genetically modifying anymore plants or microbes. We don’t have a very good long term track record when we do this. Thank you for the video. Fascinating topics yet again!
Much appreciated enlightenment.
What a perspective to think of our bodies as an aggregation of disparate symbiotic organisms working together. There’s a UA-cam doctor, Jason Fung, who talks about cancer from that perspective. Truly amazing and mysterious.
Was wondering when you'd get around to covering this!
There is this common idea - and one I used to share - that the endosymbionts were 'engulfed' by their host bacteria. But I know there are people in the field who are advancing the idea that the ancestor of the eukaryotic cell was actually a colony of cells, each specialized in some way. So the internal structures in eukaryotic cells arose from the superstructure of the colonies.
One of the most interesting aspects of this to me is the pentagon shape arrangement of the organism.
So awesome!
Thanks Anton!
Good one, Anton! Always thrilling to hear about new forms of life! The Human population shall immensely benefit if this Nitroplast is adaptable to agriculture. Compliments for a superb presentation! ♾
Awesome video. Thank you
Putting this into plants will be a revolution as game changing as the discovery of fire
Love this!
But I’d just like to mention that there’s an inaccuracy around 1:45 - Metabolically competent, active and non pathogenic cell-free mitochondria are a [relatively] newly recognized phenomenon that have upended our understanding on the roles played by mitochondria in a variety of organisms, including us.
Thanks!
Not to forget to give credit to Lynn Margulis for reviving and expanding modern endosymbiosis theory. You’ll like her. Quite the iconoclastic scientist.
Thank you for this very interesting information.
Hello Anton! First Fractals and now geometric shapes are learning to use nitrogen. Fascinating last couple of days! ;-}
whoa whoa whoa whoa.........whoa.
So from an agricultural perspective, you're saying with the introduction of nitroplasts to various plant species, it is theoretically possible to produce plants which can thrive in any climate or environment. We could have plants indigenous to remote parts of the planet that are needed for medicinal purposes grown effortlessly in a garden. The real world application of something like that is actually mindblowing.
I think giving nitroplasts to crops would allow them to require less nutrients, but need even more energy. Fixing nitrogen doesn't come free.
this might be enough to eventually create a new kingdom of life . This is how plants and animals became there own kingdoms through endosymbiosis.
I love when scientists say "And at some point something happened..." - We all know what happened, it did a "Leap-Evo", that's an evolutionary step that can't be explained.
Your topics FACINATE ME!!!
fantastic videos. such well researched and explained new scientific discoveries. THANK YOU! PS: but why oh why is your audio quality so BASS HEAVY? please fix for better listening experience, since the bass makes the speaking voice harder to understand.
English has been getting better . Like your videos . I respect I'm learning from you . God bless
The remote resemblances are also interesting: nitrogen fixing heterocysts of some filamentous cyanobacteria.