Abstract
The sustained production of H2 by Chlorella pyrenoidosa was achieved without sulfur deficiency or PSII inhibition. C. pyrenoidosa preserved hydrogenase activity for several hours in the dark. Hydrogenase activity in vitro is O2 sensitive, which indicates that respiration may play an important role in H2 production. A sustainable production of H2 was obtained for 200 h under illumination. Further, by using 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea as a PSII inhibitor, at least 70% electrons for H2 production were generated from PSII-catalyzed-H2O oxidation. The remaining electrons were probably from endogenous substrate degradation.
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Acknowledgment
This work was supported by grants from the Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 40806062, 20877046), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong province (Nos. ZR2009EQ011), the Foundation of Key Program of Science and Technology, Shandong Province (2010GHY10504) and the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Nos. KGCX2-YW-373-2).
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Wang, H., Fan, X., Zhang, Y. et al. Sustained photo-hydrogen production by Chlorella pyrenoidosa without sulfur depletion. Biotechnol Lett 33, 1345–1350 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-011-0584-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-011-0584-x