Production of Hydrogen Gas from Light and the Inorganic Electron Donor Thiosulfate by Rhodopseudomonas palustris

A challenge for photobiological production of hydrogen gas (H-2) as a potential biofuel is to find suitable electron-donating feedstocks. Here, we examined the inorganic compound thiosulfate as a possible electron donor for nitrogenase-catalyzed H-2 production by the purple nonsulfur phototrophic bacterium (PNSB) Rhodopseudomonas palustris. Thiosulfate is an intermediate of microbial sulfur metabolism in nature and is also generated in industrial processes. We found that R. palustris grew photoautotrophically with thiosulfate and bicarbonate and produced H-2 when nitrogen gas was the sole nitrogen source (nitrogen-fixing conditions). In addition, illuminated nongrowing R. palustris cells converted about 80% of available electrons from thiosulfate to H-2. H-2 production with acetate and succinate as electron donors was less efficient (40 to 60%), partly because nongrowing cells excreted the intermediary metabolite alpha-ketoglutarate into the culture medium. The fixABCX operon (RPA4602 to RPA4605) encoding a predicted electron-transfer complex is necessary for growth using thiosulfate under nitrogen-fixing conditions and may serve as a point of engineering to control rates of H-2 production. The possibility to use thiosulfate expands the range of electron-donating compounds for H-2 production by PNSBs beyond biomass-based electron donors.