Nitrogen is an essential component of many organic molecules such as DNA, RNA and proteins, the building blocks of life . Nitrogen is also essential for many processes and is crucial for any life on Earth. It is a component in all amino acids, as incorporated into proteins, and is present in the bases that make up nucleic acids, such as RNA and DNA. In plants, much of the nitrogen is used in chlorophyll molecules, which are essential for photosynthesis and further growth. Although Earth’s atmosphere is an abundant source of nitrogen, most is relatively unusable by plants. Chemical processing, or natural fixation (through processes such as bacterial conversion, are necessary to convert gaseous nitrogen into forms usable by living organisms, which makes nitrogen a crucial component of food production. The abundance or scarcity of this fixed form of nitrogen, (also known as reactive nitrogen), dictates how much food can be grown on a piece of land. The nitrogen cycle and the carbon cycle work together to maintain an ecosystem.4% of plant matters dry weight is nitrogen. Plants require adequate supply of nitrogen for their proper growth and development. This is because it plays a crucial role in the formation of compounds like protein, amino acids, nucleic acids, etc. Though, 78% of the Earths atmosphere imbibes nitrogen, plants and animals have no direct way of accessing it. Atmospheric nitrogen cannot be absorbed by the plants, instead has to be fixed or transformed into another biologically suitable compound that can be absorbed by them. This process is called nitrogen fixation or nitrogen cycle. It is also seen to form 3% of human body weight, where it is seen to play a crucial role in food digestion and overall body growth. Proteins ingested in the diet contain nitrogen, which after metabolism is used to form adenosine triphosphate (ATP) molecules. ATP molecules are energy sources for the body.The most important contribution to Biological Nitrogen Fixation comes from the symbiotic association of certain micro-organisms with the roots of higher plants. A classic example is that of the bacteria (Rhizobium) which characteristically infect the roots of leguminous plants (e.g., bean, soybean, clover, and peanut) with a high degree of host specificity. Small nodules are formed on the roots and these become filled with an altered form of the bacteria (bacteroides) which fix appreciable amounts of nitrogen. This symbiosis alone accounts for 20% of global biological nitrogen fixed annually. The legumes represent a major direct source of food for man and forage for livestock and therefore represent a critical contribution to world food production. To track the cycle of nitrogen in the atmosphere, they studied dinitrogen pentoxide, a molecule that results from the oxidation of nitrogen oxides. It can react with chloride from sea salt, for example, to form nitryl chloride. When sunlight hits nitryl chloride the next morning, it regenerates nitrogen oxides and frees a chlorine radical that attacks other molecules in reactions that can lead to the formation of ozone. The surface of the sea takes up nitrogen oxides that build up in polluted air at night, new measurements on the coast of southern California have shown. The ocean removes about 15 percent of these chemicals overnight along the coast, a team of atmospheric chemists reports in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of March 3. The Importance of nitrogen is seen in all fields of life, and besides, the natural purposes this element is utilized for various commercial purposes. Above all, nitrogen is indispensable to life and sustenance on Earth! phys.org/news/2014-03-sea-surface-nitrogen-oxides-night.html buzzle/articles/nitrogen-in-the-atmosphere.html soyroothair.org/education/17-the-role-of-nitrogen-in-the-biosphere.html en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_cycle
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 00:43:38 +0000
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