Temporally and spatially targeted dynamic nitrogen delivery by remodeled microbes

Abstract

The present disclosure provides non-intergeneric remodeled microbes that are able to fix atmospheric nitrogen and deliver such to plants in a targeted, efficient, and environmentally sustainable manner. The utilization of the taught microbial products will enable farmers to realize more productive and predictable crop yields without the nutrient degradation, leaching, or toxic runoff associated with traditional synthetically derived nitrogen fertilizer, by mitigating or eliminating the need for exogenous nitrogen-containing fertilizers. The remodeled microbes have unique colonization and nitrogen fixation abilities, which enable the microbes to deliver nitrogen to a cereal plant in a spatially targeted (e.g. rhizospheric) and temporally targeted (e.g. during advantageous stages of plants life cycle) manner. The microbes are able to replace the standard agricultural practice of sidedressing and enable a more environmentally sustainable form of farming. The present disclosure also provides methods of using non-intergeneric remodeled microbes, for example, to fix atmospheric nitrogen by reducing or eliminating the need for exogenous nitrogen-containing fertilizers, to increase yield, and to reduce infield variability in the yield.