FERTILIZER GENOMICS

Researchers at New York University are tackling one of the major challenges in agriculture: How to raise healthy plants while minimizing the use of fertilizer and the leaching of fertilizer chemicals into the environment. With support from the National Science Foundation, a team led by plant genomic scientist Gloria Coruzzi and computer scientist Dennis Shasha is using the latest genomic tools to develop new plant varieties that don't need as much nitrogen to grow. The researchers are also investigating which of the plant's genes control fertilizer uptake and which combinations of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium--the main nutrient chemicals in traditional commercial fertilizers--produce the heartiest plants.