The photobiological production of H2 gas, using water as the only electron donor, is a property of two types of photosynthetic microorganisms: green algae and cyanobacteria. In these organisms, photosynthetic water splitting is functionally linked to H(2) production by the activity of hydrogenase enzymes. Interestingly, each of these organisms contains only one of two major types of hydrogenases, [FeFe] or [NiFe] enzymes, which are phylogenetically distinct but perform the same catalytic reaction, suggesting convergent evolution. This idea is supported by the observation that each of the two classes of hydrogenases has a different metallo-cluster, is encoded by entirely different sets of genes (apparently under the control of different promoter elements), and exhibits different maturation pathways. The genetics, biosynthesis, structure, function, and O2 sensitivity of these enzymes have been the focus of extensive research in recent years. Some of this effort is clearly driven by the potential for using these enzymes in future biological or biohybrid systems to produce renewable fuel or in fuel cell applications.

中文翻译：

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产氧光合生物中的氢化酶和氢光生产

使用水作为唯一电子供体的 H2 气体光生物生产是两种光合微生物的特性：绿藻和蓝藻。在这些生物体中，光合分解水在功能上与氢化酶的活性 H(2) 生产相关联。有趣的是，这些生物中的每一种都只包含两种主要类型的氢化酶中的一种，[FeFe] 或 [NiFe] 酶，它们在系统发育上不同但执行相同的催化反应，表明趋同进化。这一想法得到以下观察结果的支持：两类氢化酶中的每一种都具有不同的金属簇，由完全不同的基因组编码（显然在不同启动子元件的控制下），并表现出不同的成熟途径。遗传学、生物合成、结构、功能、这些酶的 O2 敏感性和 O2 敏感性是近年来广泛研究的焦点。其中一些努力显然是由在未来的生物或生物混合系统中使用这些酶来生产可再生燃料或燃料电池应用的潜力所驱动的。