Nitrogen Fixation

An up-to-date and accessible account of a key biological process.

John Postgate (Author)

9780521648530, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 15 October 1998

124 pages, 22 b/w illus. 8 tables
22.7 x 15.3 x 0.8 cm, 0.212 kg

'The book can be wholeheartedly recommended to the intended audience … although the readership deserves to be, and probably will be, much wider … this is an excellent little book that deserves a place on every microbiologist's bookshelf.' Robert Poole, Microbiology Today

The fixation of nitrogen - the conversion of atmospheric nitrogen to a form which plants can use - is fundamental to the productivity of the biosphere and therefore to the ability of the expanding human population to feed itself. Although the existence and importance of the process of biological nitrogen fixation has been recognised for more than a century, scientific advances over the last few decades have altered radically our understanding of its nature and mechanisms. This book provides an introductory-level survey of biological nitrogen fixation, covering the role of the process in the global nitrogen cycle as well as its biochemistry, physiology, genetics, ecology, general biology and prospects for its future exploitation. This new edition has been fully updated to include the most recent developments in the field, so providing an up-to-date and accessible account of this key biological process.

Preface
1. The nitrogen cycle
2. The enzyme
3. Physiology
4. The free-living microbes
5. The plant associations
6. Genetics and evolution
7. The future
Further reading
Index.

Subject Areas: Plant physiology [PSTD]