Autotrophic hydrogen photoproduction by operation of carbon-concentrating mechanism in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under sulfur deprivation condition

Abstract

Under autotrophic conditions, starch plays an important role in establishing anoxic conditions during PSII-dependent hydrogen (H-2) photoproduction in microalgae. This is because starch is the sole organic substrate during respiratory consumption of internal oxygen (O-2) from PSII-dependent direct pathway. Herein, we propose a novel approach to further facilitate the internal starch synthesis of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii through the operation of carbon-concentrating mechanism (CCM) along with a two-stage process based on sulfur (S) deprivation, thereby resulting in enhanced anaerobic capacity during PSII-dependent H-2 photoproduction. When CCM-induced cells were exposed to high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) (5%, v/v) with S deprivation, internal levels of starch were significantly elevated by retaining a functional CCM with the boosted photosynthetic activity during 24 h of O-2 evolution phase (I) of S deprivation. Consequently, during H-2 production phase of S deprivation at irradiance of 50 mu E m(-2)s(-1), the concentrations of starch and H-2 in CCM-induced cells were remarkably enhanced by 65.0% and 218.9% compared to that of CCM-uninduced cells, respectively. The treatment of low-CO2-driven CCM induction prior to S deprivation is a cost-effective and energy-efficient strategy that significantly improves the solar-driven H-2 production by microalgae; this is particularly realizable in an industrial scale. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.