Certain enzymes from bacteria and algae can produce molecular hydrogen from protons and electrons – an energy carrier on which many hopes are riding. All they need for this purpose is light energy .
(Ruhr University Bochum) Green algae have two almost identical hydrogen-producing enzymes. One has been researched for decades, the other received little attention – until recently.
Hydrogen-producing enzymes, so-called hydrogenases, could be a source of regenerative energy. The RUB photobiotechnology working group has now characterized a hydrogenase from the green alga
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that has so far hardly been researched . Green algae have two almost identical hydrogenases. Although they differ in only one single amino acid, they have different properties, the Bochum team found. The researchers headed by Dr. Vera Engelbrecht and Prof. Dr. Thomas Happe in the “International Journal of Hydrogen Energy” on December 16, 2020.