{
  "id": 12533519,
  "title": "Domestication, spread, and improvement have shaped biological nitrogen fixation traits in Zea taxa",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/06/domestication-spread-and-improvement-have-shaped-biological-nitrogen",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-06T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.30.755791v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "Synthetic nitrogen fertilizers enhance maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) productivity but impose substantial environmental and economic costs. Some Mexican maize landraces support biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in aerial root mucilage, raising the question of how much variation exists in this trait and how domestication, geographic spread, and improvement have shaped BNF-related traits across Zea in…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}