View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Texas A&M University PDFlib PLOP: PDF Linearization, Optimization, Protection Page inserted by evaluation version www.pdflib.com –
[email protected] Microbial Biotechnology (2008) 1(2), 107–125 doi:10.1111/j.1751-7915.2007.00009.x Review Metabolically engineered bacteria for producing hydrogen via fermentation Gönül Vardar-Schara,1* Toshinari Maeda2 and ambient temperature and pressure; hence, it requires less Thomas K. Wood2,3,4 energy compared with conventional thermal systems 1Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineer- (steam methane reforming, 850°C, 25 bar) (Yi and Harri- ing, University of Hawaii, 1955 East-West Road, Agricul- son, 2005) and compared with electrolytic processes. tural Sciences 218, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. Microorganisms produce hydrogen via two main path- 2Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, ways: photosynthesis and fermentation. Photosynthesis 3Department of Biology and 4Zachry Department of Civil is a light-dependent process, including direct biophotoly- and Environmental Engineering, 220 Jack E. Brown sis, indirect biophotolysis and photo-fermentation, Building, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX whereas, anaerobic fermentation, also known as dark 77843-3122, USA. fermentation, is a light-independent process (Benemann, 1996; Hallenbeck and Benemann, 2002). Photosynthetic hydrogen production is performed by photosynthetic Summary microorganisms, such as algae (Benemann, 2000), Hydrogen, the most abundant and lightest element in photosynthetic bacteria (Matsunaga et al., 2000) and the universe, has much potential as a future energy cyanobacteria (Dutta et al., 2005). Fermentative hydro- source. Hydrogenases catalyse one of the simplest gen production is conducted by fermentative microorgan- + - chemical reactions, 2H + 2e ↔ H2, yet their structure isms, such as strict anaerobes [Clostridium strains (Levin is very complex.