The corn variety Sierra Mixe grows aerial roots that produce a sweet mucus that feeds bacteria. The bacteria, in turn, pull nitrogen out of the air and fertilize the corn. If scientists can breed ...

The aerial roots of the Sierra Mixe corn stalk help the plant produce its own nitrogen. Image via Wikimedia Commons Not all plants need extra nitrogen. Legumes like beans and soybeans are able to ...

For now, Bennett and his colleagues want to identify the genes that allow the Sierra Mixe corn to produce its mucus-coated aerial roots, and attract the right bacteria. They also want to take a ...

Using a chronosequence of corn lines, University of Illinois researchers found decades of breeding and reliance on chemical fertilizers prevents modern corn from recruiting nitrogen-fixing microbes.

The aerial roots of the Sierra Mixe corn stalk help the plant produce its own nitrogen. Image via Wikimedia Commons Not all plants need extra nitrogen. Legumes like beans and soybeans are able to ...

To do this, the corn grows a series of aerial roots. Unlike conventional corn, which has one or two groups of aerial roots near its base, the nitrogen-fixing corn develops eight to ten thick aerial ...

aerial roots, prop roots, brace roots and climbing roots. They can occur above or below the soil level. Nodal, brace and prop roots often occur during normal plant development. For example, corn ...

The researchers found out about the corn from Howard-Yana Shapiro ... When they noticed the goopy aerial roots, “We were like, that’s weird,” Ané said. They tested the goopy gel, and ...

At 16 feet (5 meters), it stands about twice as tall as conventional corn. And sticking out of the stalks, high above the ground, are aerial roots, red finger-like protrusions coated in slime.