Using a newly developed technique, researchers from Japan, Germany and the U.S. have identified a key step in production of hydrogen gas by a bacterial enzyme. Understanding these reactions could be important in developing a clean-fuel economy powered by hydrogen.
The team studied hydrogenases -- enzymes that catalyze production of hydrogen from two widely distributed organisms: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a single-cell algae and Desulfovibrio desulfuricans, a bacterium.
In both cases, their hydrogenase enzymes have an active site with two iron atoms.
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