| Genetically modified bacteria make hydrogen from light |
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Genetically modified bacteria make hydrogen from light By blocking the ability of certain bacteria that fix carbon dioxide during photosynthesis can get them to produce hydrogen for use in fuel cells. Hydrogen is a promising transportation fuel, using only water as waste product. Fototrofa (light-loving) bacteria, which rhodopseudomonas palustris, produces hydrogen using light as an energy source and carbon-rich organic compounds as a raw material in oxygen-free conditions. It is a way for bacteria to get rid of excess electrons. To give them even more electron-rich organic matter increases, however, the hydrogen production, which would have been logical. Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle analyzed the metabolic functions of bacteria to try to understand what is happening. Their conclusion is that a series of reactions that convert carbon dioxide and electrons to the organic compounds in competition with hydrogen production of electrons. When the researchers tested a strain of bacteria that have been altered genetically so that carbon fixation was blocked, they could see sharp increase in hydrogen production. |
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 18 April 2011 ) |
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