Biohydrogen production by Cyanobacteria [abstract]
Abstract
Hydrogen has the potential to provide a clean, storable, transportable and renewable source of
energy that can supplement and eventually replace fossil fuels as the primary source of power in
the U.S. However, most current methods for production of hydrogen require the use of fossil
fuels. Pollution-free, renewable hydrogen can be provided using bio-hydrogen produced from
sunlight and water by a microorganism such as the filamentous cyanobacterium, Anabaena
variabilis. Almost all microorganisms that can bio-produce hydrogen using sunlight fail to do so
in the presence of air because their hydrogen-producing enzymes are very sensitive to oxygen.
Anabaena variabilis bio-produces hydrogen from water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide, a
greenhouse gas, in the presence of air. It can do so because it has cells called heterocysts, in
which there is almost no oxygen. European laboratories have shown that Anabaena produces
hydrogen in outdoor bioreactors in the presence of air, but 50-fold too little for commercial
success. Our research is focused on genetically engineering this strain for greatly increased
hydrogen production in order to make it an economically feasible renewable source of energy for
transportation.