摘要

Microbial hydrogen production is currently hampered by lack of efficiency. We examine how hydrogen production in the hyperthermophilic bacterium Thermotoga maritima can be increased in silico. An updated genome-scale metabolic model of T. maritima was used to i) describe in detail the H-2 metabolism in this bacterium, ii) identify suitable carbon sources for enhancing H-2 production, and iii)to design knockout strains, which increased the in silico hydrogen production up to 20%. A novel synthetic oxidative module was further designed, which connects the cellular NADPH and ferredoxin pools by inserting into the model a NADPH-ferredoxin reductase. We then combined this in silica knock-in strain with a knockout strain design, resulting in an in silico production strain with a predicted 125% increase in hydrogen yield. The in silica strains designs presented here may serve as blueprints for future metabolic engineering efforts of T. maritima.

  • 出版日期2012-9