This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) An erratum has been published Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Yoshida, A. Articles by Yukawa, H. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Yoshida, A. Articles by Yukawa, H. Agricola Articles by Yoshida, A. Articles by Yukawa, H.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2005, p. 6762-6768, Vol. 71, No. 11
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.11.6762-6768.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Enhanced Hydrogen Production from Formic Acid by Formate Hydrogen Lyase-Overexpressing Escherichia coli Strains

Akihito Yoshida,^1,2 Taku Nishimura,¹ Hideo Kawaguchi,¹ Masayuki Inui,¹ and Hideaki Yukawa^1*

Microbiology Research Group, Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth, Kyoto, Japan,¹ Development Department I, Ecological Technology Development Center, Corporate Research and Development Group, Sharp Corporation, Nara, Japan²

Received 2 June 2005/ Accepted 14 July 2005

Genetic recombination of Escherichia coli in conjunction with process manipulation was employed to elevate the efficiency of hydrogen production in the resultant strain SR13 2 orders of magnitude above that of conventional methods. The formate hydrogen lyase (FHL)-overexpressing strain SR13 was constructed by combining FHL repressor (hycA) inactivation with FHL activator (fhlA) overexpression. Transcription of large-subunit formate dehydrogenase, fdhF, and large-subunit hydrogenase, hycE, in strain SR13 increased 6.5- and 7.0-fold, respectively, compared to the wild-type strain. On its own, this genetic modification effectively resulted in a 2.8-fold increase in hydrogen productivity of SR13 compared to the wild-type strain. Further enhancement of productivity was attained by using a novel method involving the induction of the FHL complex with high-cell-density filling of a reactor under anaerobic conditions. Continuous hydrogen production was achieved by maintaining the reactor concentration of the substrate (free formic acid) under 25 mM. An initial productivity of 23.6 g hydrogen h^–1 liter^–1 (300 liters h^–1 liter^–1 at 37°C) was achieved using strain SR13 at a cell density of 93 g (dry weight) cells/liter. The hydrogen productivity reported in this work has great potential for practical application.

---

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Microbiology Research Group, Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth, 9-2 Kizugawadai, Kizu-cho Soraku-gun, Kyoto 619-0292, Japan. Phone: 81-774-75-2308. Fax: 81-774-75-2321. E-mail: mmg-lab{at}rite.or.jp.

---

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2005, p. 6762-6768, Vol. 71, No. 11
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.11.6762-6768.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Waks, Z., Silver, P. A. (2009). Engineering a Synthetic Dual-Organism System for Hydrogen Production. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75: 1867-1875 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Lupa, B., Hendrickson, E. L., Leigh, J. A., Whitman, W. B. (2008). Formate-Dependent H2 Production by the Mesophilic Methanogen Methanococcus maripaludis. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 6584-6590 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Xing, D., Ren, N., Rittmann, B. E. (2008). Genetic Diversity of Hydrogen-Producing Bacteria in an Acidophilic Ethanol-H2-Coproducing System, Analyzed Using the [Fe]-Hydrogenase Gene. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 1232-1239 [Abstract] [Full Text]