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Microbes map path toward renewable energy future
http://www.pnnl.gov/news/release.aspx?id=4234[font face=Serif][font size=5]Microbes map path toward renewable energy future[/font]
[font size=4]Scientists find a surprise in how Cyanothece creates hydrogen[/font]
November 10, 2015
[font size=3]RICHLAND, Wash. – In the quest for renewable fuels, scientists are taking lessons from a humble bacterium that fills our oceans and covers moist surfaces the world over. While the organism captures light to make food in a process called photosynthesis, scientists have found that it simultaneously uses the energy from that captured light to produce hydrogen.
…
PNNL scientists found that the organism taps into an unexpected source of energy to create hydrogen. Researchers have known that 51142 makes hydrogen by drawing upon sugars that it has stored during growth. In this study, PNNL researchers found that the organism also draws on a second source of energy, using sunlight and water directly to make hydrogen.
…
"This organism can make lots of hydrogen, very fast; it's a viable catalyst for hydrogen production," said Bernstein. "The enzyme that makes the hydrogen needs a huge amount of energy. The real question is, what funds the energy budget for this important enzyme and then, how can we design and control it to create renewable fuels and to advance biotechnology?"
In a paper published in 2012 in mBio, Beliaev and colleagues raised questions about how the microbe drew upon the energy required to produce hydrogen. In the new paper, the molecular signals the team studied show that photosynthesis and the hydrogen production by nitrogenase happen hand in hand in a coordinated manner.
…[/font][/font]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep16004[font size=4]Scientists find a surprise in how Cyanothece creates hydrogen[/font]
November 10, 2015
[font size=3]RICHLAND, Wash. – In the quest for renewable fuels, scientists are taking lessons from a humble bacterium that fills our oceans and covers moist surfaces the world over. While the organism captures light to make food in a process called photosynthesis, scientists have found that it simultaneously uses the energy from that captured light to produce hydrogen.
…
PNNL scientists found that the organism taps into an unexpected source of energy to create hydrogen. Researchers have known that 51142 makes hydrogen by drawing upon sugars that it has stored during growth. In this study, PNNL researchers found that the organism also draws on a second source of energy, using sunlight and water directly to make hydrogen.
…
"This organism can make lots of hydrogen, very fast; it's a viable catalyst for hydrogen production," said Bernstein. "The enzyme that makes the hydrogen needs a huge amount of energy. The real question is, what funds the energy budget for this important enzyme and then, how can we design and control it to create renewable fuels and to advance biotechnology?"
In a paper published in 2012 in mBio, Beliaev and colleagues raised questions about how the microbe drew upon the energy required to produce hydrogen. In the new paper, the molecular signals the team studied show that photosynthesis and the hydrogen production by nitrogenase happen hand in hand in a coordinated manner.
…[/font][/font]
