Analysis of genome and transcriptome of Rhodobacter sphaeroides in context of biological hydrogen production


About 80% of the world-wide energy demand is obtained from not renewable fossil fuels. This results in global warming and emission of toxic compounds. Hydrogen (H2) is the fuel of the future and the cleanest alternative. Non-sulfur bacteria are the most studied hydrogen producing bacteria. Biological hydrogen in photosynthetic organisms is mainly produced via two metabolic pathways, the dark- and photofermentation. By the light driven photofermentation, high yields of hydrogen can be produced if the substrates can be fully utilized. In addition, these organisms have many alternatives of energy recovery where no hydrogen evolves or is even consumed.  The culture conditions should be monitored closely in order to achieve maximum hydrogen evolution rates.
The goal of the research project in cooperation with the Institute of Food Technology and Bioprocess Engineering of the Technical University Dresden is the optimization of the hydrogen production process by Rhodobacter sphaeroides. Regulation pathways on genome and transcriptome level are examined to customize influencing parameters. Cultivation, sequencing and bioinformatical analysis of sequence data are carried out in context of biological hydrogen production of Rhodobacter sphaeroides

Publications

Poster

Transcriptomic Monitoring of Escherichia coli Growth (PDF)
Wappler N., Giersch T., Stark L., Wünschiers R.
Microbiology and Infection 2014. 4. Joint Conference of the Association for General and Applied Microbiology (VAAM) and the Society of Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM), October 05-08