CHAPTER 13: Hydrogen Production Using Novel Photosynthetic Cell Factories. Cyanobacterial Hydrogen Production: Design of Efficient Organisms

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotic microorganisms with the capacity to carry out the same type of oxygenic photosynthesis as higher plants. For a long time they have been considered as promising candidates for renewable energy production. Based on their native hydrogenases and subsequent metabolism, various strains can evolve different levels of hydrogen based on both biotic and abiotic factors. Recently, there has been a gradual increase in targeted approaches to engineer the native cyanobacterial cell for increased hydrogen production. This chapter presents and discusses recent strategies to design and construct efficient photosynthetic cyanobacterial cells for producing renewable hydrogen from solar energy and water.