Bacterial blueprint for hydrogen economy
Researchers at the John Innes Centre, Norwich are using bacteria to provide the blueprint for a system they hope will one day produce electricity from hydrogen.
Researchers at the John Innes Centre, Norwich are using bacteria to provide the blueprint for a system they hope will one day produce electricity from hydrogen.
Using the known molecular structures of the bacteria Desulfovibrio desuluricans and Clostridium pasteurianum the team have isolated the iron-only hydrogenase enzyme. Hydrogenases catalyse the interconversion of protons, electrons and hydrogen at extraordinary high rates.
“This is an exciting early step in developing a sustainable system for producing electricity from hydrogen,” said Professor Chris Pickett, Associate Head of the Biological Chemistry Department at the John Innes Centre (JIC).
He explained: “In nature iron-sulphur enzymes catalyse a range of important chemical reactions that industry can only do by using precious metal catalysts and/or high temperatures and pressures.”
“Based on nature’s blueprint we are a step closer to building an iron-sulphur catalyst for reactions fundamental to a sustainable hydrogen economy,” he concluded.
