Chelsea's Story

Well hi there! I'm Chelsea Chickpea and I want to tell you a little bit about myself and my friends - the Pulses (a group of legumes that you humans can eat).

We come from an ancient noble plant family. Our ancestors lined the dinner plates of Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs. We've been around for a long time!

We legumes have played a vital role in the life of plants and animals - including humans - for a very long time. Why? Without us the world would not be the place it is today. You see we all need stuff called nitrogen because it goes into protein - something no living thing can do do without. You need a supply of protein so your bodies can stay healthy and grow. You'd think it would be easy because 80% of the air you breathe is nitrogen.

So you literally take it in every time you breathe. Sadly neither you, nor any other animal, nor any plant can use this nitrogen from the air to make protein. Luckily for all of us, some bacteria can.

You've got to meet one of my friends - Ruth Rhizobia. You see not all bacteria are bad. Luckily for us, these rhizobia bacteria can use the nitrogen in the air. How? Rhizobia contain special enzymes (enzymes help put things together or split them apart). Ruth's enzymes take the nitrogen from the air, split it apart and combine it with a bit of hydrogen to make ammonia (that stinky stuff you wash the bathroom floor with!). It may be poison to you humans, but us legumes can turn that into protein! YUMMM!

The rhizobia are friendly and share the nitrogen with me and my legume friends. A very, very long time ago (before the dinosaurs!) our legume ancestors and the rhizobia worked out that the rhizobia could live in their own little 'homes' (called nodules) in the roots of the legume plants. The rhizobia multiply in number, switch on their nitrogen fixing enzymes and make ammonia - all inside the nodules on our roots.

This worked out so well that it still happens today. Our special relationship is called symbiotic because we help each other. We give Ruth and her pals food and shelter and they give us nitrogen which we can use to make protein.

So when you eat us chickpeas, you are eating some of the nitrogen that was in the air around our roots when we grew. When you digest the chickpeas, you will use us to make protein in your body. It might go go towards making muscles or hair or even toenails! Just stop and think how the symbiosis between legumes and rhizobia has affected you. I mean how could you get enough protein without us? Even if you don't eat legumes you may eat other things like dairy products and meat which have lots of protein. Animals get nitrogen to make their protein by eating legumes, grain and grass fertilized by legumes in crop rotations.