Sorgoleone: Synthesis, function, and genetic variation

When we fertilize our crops, some of the nitrogen from that fertilizer gets converted into different forms through nitrification and denitrification. When non-plant-available forms of nitrogen exit the soil through water or as gas, it's a serious environmental problem. Thankfully, plants have some pretty nifty ways to prevent nitrification, such as biological nitrification inhibition (BNI), a process that manages the bacteria that cause nitrification. In this episode of the Field, Lab, Earth podcast, we discuss sorgoleone, a product of sorghum roots that plays a key role in the BNI process.