Scientists from Argentina and Chile Develop "Soils in a Chip"

A multidisciplinary team of scientists from CONICET and the University of Chile has taken an innovative step in studying microorganisms that promote the growth of leguminous plants, such as soybeans and peanuts. By developing transparent microdevices called "soils on a chip" (SOCs), researchers have managed to recreate real agricultural soil conditions with unprecedented precision, allowing them to observe the behavior of key bacteria in nitrogen fixation. This breakthrough, published in the journal Communications Biology from the Nature group, could be crucial for optimizing the development and application of biofertilizers. The SOCs, the size of a fingertip, are plastic micro-laboratories designed to mimic sandy or silty soils, with grains and pores that replicate the natural environment. These oxygen-permeable devices contain ultrathin liquid-filled channels with nutrients where microorganisms, such as the Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens bacteria, are introduced. This rhizobium, ...