title: Hydrogen Production by a Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Strain with Inducible Expression of Photosystem II.
abstract: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cy6Nac2.49 is a genetically modified algal strain that activates photosynthesis in a cyclical manner, so that photosynthesis is not active constitutively in the presence of oxygen, but is turned on only in response to a metabolic trigger (anaerobiosis). Here, we further investigated hydrogen production by this strain comparing it with the parental wild-type strain under photoheterotrophic conditions in regular tris-acetate-phosphate (TAP) medium with a 10-h:14-h light/dark regime. Unlike the wild-type, whose level of H₂ production remained low during illumination, H₂ production in the mutant strain increased gradually with each subsequent light period, and by the final light period was significantly higher than the wild-type. The relatively low Photosystem II (PSII) activity of the mutant culture was shown by low fluorescence yield both in the dark (Fv/Fm) and in the light (δF/Fm') periods. Measurement of oxygen evolution confirmed the low photosynthetic activity of the mutant cells, which gradually accumulated O₂ to a lesser extent than the wild-type, thus allowing the mutant strain to maintain hydrogenase activity over a longer time period and to gradually accumulate H₂ during periods of illumination. Therefore, controllable expression of PSII can be used to increase hydrogen production under nutrient replete conditions, thus avoiding many of the limitations associated with nutrient deprivation approaches sometimes used to promote hydrogen production.
authors.affiliation: Département de Microbiologie, Infectiologie et Immunologie, Université de Montréal, CP6128 Succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, QC H3C 3J7, Canada. horcheska@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Khorcheska
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Batyrova
authors.affiliation: Département de Microbiologie, Infectiologie et Immunologie, Université de Montréal, CP6128 Succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, QC H3C 3J7, Canada. patrick.hallenbeck@umontreal.ca.|Life Sciences Research Center, Department of Biology, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO 80840, USA. patrick.hallenbeck@umontreal.ca.
authors.forename: Patrick C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Hallenbeck
mesh_terms: D016825:Chlamydomonas reinhardtii / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D009154:Mutation; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D045332:Photosystem II Protein Complex / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D045332:Photosystem II Protein Complex; D006859:Hydrogen; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Chlamydomonas reidhardtii; biohydrogen; biophotolysis; inducible promotor