Humans have used biological fertilizers like manure for thousands of years, and companies have long been developing microbial fertilizers, including some that rely on genetic engineering. But it\u2019s difficult to engineer microbes that can reliably provide nitrogen for crops while also thriving themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A startup called Switch Bioworks is taking a new approach that essentially allows microbes to establish themselves and grow into healthy colonies before shifting into nitrogen-producing mode. \u201cWe have to reinvent fertilizer,\u201d\u00a0 says Tim Schnabel, the company\u2019s founder and CEO.<\/p>\n
The air is nearly 80% nitrogen, but plants can\u2019t use that \u201cfree\u201d nitrogen directly because it doesn\u2019t react readily with other elements. Instead, they rely on so-called fixed nitrogen, which has been converted into more reactive compounds such as ammonia. In nature, microbes can perform this nitrogen fixation. Some plants, like legumes, even have symbiotic relationships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, housing them in nodules in their roots. Synthetic fertilizer is essentially industrial nitrogen fixation via the Haber-Bosch process, which uses natural gas to make ammonia that\u2019s applied to fields.<\/p>\n
Biological fertilizers aim to replace some of the synthetic fertilizer with microbes that can help fix nitrogen for plants. But one challenge microbial fertilizer companies have run into is that it\u2019s energetically expensive for microbes to make and release ammonia. Putting all their energy into nitrogen fixation can hamper their growth.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a certain level of colonization you want to see around the roots, Schnabel explains. It\u2019s too expensive and logistically challenging to put all those microbes on the plant, so you have to rely on a smaller number of microbes to grow and divide, establishing the population.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"a](\"https:\/\/wp.technologyreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_9577-2.jpg?w=840\")
COURTESY OF SWITCH BIOWORKS<\/p>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n
Switch Bioworks is betting that a genetic switch is the answer. A genetic switch is a section or sections of DNA that controls how genes are turned on and off. In this case it works by activating genes that help trigger ammonia production in and release from the cell. The company is working on several options for setting off this change in its microbes. The leading one is to have the microbes react to the nitrogen level in the soil: Once it drops to a certain level, they begin producing ammonia.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have this inherent biological reality, where it\u2019s really expensive for microbes to fix nitrogen,\u201d says Dan Blaustein-Rejto, director of food and agriculture at the Breakthrough Institute. It takes a lot of energy, and if they do fix the nitrogen, they want to use it for themselves, to build proteins and survive, he says. Adding genetic switches could help microbes grow and thrive and then help fertilize crops.<\/p>\n
Switch is currently trialing its product in six US states, though it\u2019s two to three years from a commercial product, Schnabel says. It\u2019s initially focused on corn, the most-planted crop in the US, with over 90 million acres in 2026.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
#engineered #microbes #feed #worlds #crops<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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