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| Abstract Title:
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| Analysis of Thermophilic Cyanobacteria for Biosolar Hydrogen Production
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| Graduate Student Presenter:
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Jed Eberly
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| Name of the Author(s) and Affiliation(s):
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Jed Eberly, Oregon State University: Roger Ely, Oregon State University
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Biosolar hydrogen production offers great promise as a sustainable energy solution. Current research has focused primarily on mesophilic organisms however, solar-supported energy devices, including those using microorganisms or purified enzymes, must tolerate temperatures up to at least 50-60 ºC. Both cyanobacteria and green algae contain Photosystem I (PS I), PS II, and hydrogenase enzymes, necessary components for biophotolysis of water and subsequent production of H2, but no thermotolerant organisms possessing all of these capabilities have been described in the literature. Thermosynechococcus elongatus is an ideal model for these studies because it has been sequenced and is naturally transformable. A comprehensive BLAST search of T. elongatus failed to identify any genes coding for Ni-Fe or Fe-only hydrogenases that are typically found in cyanobacteria. However several candidate genes for hydrogen production have been identified. Preliminary screening using a newly developed hydrogen screening assay has shown a low level of hydrogen production from T. elongatus. The source of this hydrogen is unknown but may be related to one of the candidate genes. Ongoing work is focused on creating knockout mutants and analyzing them for hydrogen production in addition to evaluating the effects of various culture conditions (N, S, or P limitation; temperature; light/dark; pH; exogenous organic carbon) on H2 production.
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