Sustainability is a topic of increasing concern in the fields of agriculture, food security and rural development. There is a dire need for innovation in this field; primarily driven by predictions of substantial global population increase coupled with severe pressure on non-renewable resources. The result is a necessity to increase food production whilst reducing our impact on the environment. As such, our aim is to find sustainable solutions that address some of these issues.

Inorganic nitrogen fertiliser production is extremely energy-intensive, accounting for ~1% of all global energy use (Smith 2002 http://science.sciencemag.org/content/297/5587/1654.long ). These fertilisers require persistent application as they are rapidly leeched out of the soil shortly after application causing mass pollution worldwide.

The problems with inorganic fertilisers are that they do not last long, they take masses of energy to produce and cause pollution, the most common fertilisers are Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the Newcastle 2018 team aim to provide a source of these nutrients that is sustainable and non-polluting.

The organism used by the team is a gram-negative bacterium called Pseudomonas fluorescens. P. fluorescens lives in soil and water, and is capable of colonising roots. Naturally Pseudomonas fluorescens in known as a plant growth promoter for multiple reasons;

• It produces a siderophore that liberates iron [2], consequentially liberating phosphorus too. [3]
• It has anti-fungal properties (protecting from pathogens). [4]
• It is nematophagous, protecting plants from parasitic nematode worms. [5]
• Produces anti-insectal toxins, protecting from pests. [6]
• t is thought to induce systemic resistance and/or tolerance. [7]

With all these features,Pseudomonas fluorescens was already an ideal organism for improving crop yields, but the Newcastle iGEM team wanted to take this is a step further.