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Abstract
There is an urgent need to develop sustainable solutions to convert solar energy into energy carriers used in society. In addition to solar cells generating electricity, there are several options to generate solar fuels, with molecular hydrogen being an interesting and promising option. Native and engineered cyanobacteria have been used as model systems to examine, develop and demonstrate photobiological hydrogen production. In the present review we present and discuss recent progress with respect to native biological systems to generate hydrogen, metabolic modulations, and genetic engineering of metabolic pathways, as well as the introduction of custom-designed, non-native enzymes and complexes for enhanced hydrogen production in cyanobacteria. In conclusion, metabolic and genetic engineering of native cyanobacterial hydrogen metabolism can significantly increase the hydrogen production. Introduction of custom-designed non-native capacities open up new possibilities to further enhance cyanobacterial-based hydrogen production.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
This work was supported by the Swedish Energy Agency, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (project MoSE), and the Swedish Research Links program (project grant no. 348-2009-6486). The research grants by the Commission on Higher Education, Thailand (The University Staff Development Consortium), the Thai Government SP2 (TKK2555) and the National Research University Project, CHE (FW0659A) to A Incharoensakdi is also acknowledged. W Khetkorn also thanks the Graduate School of Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), for providing a Post-Doctoral Fellowship. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.