Bacteria - Future fuel source?

With a new computer system, Sheffeild University scientists have developed the metabolic mechanism of Nostoc bacteria. Accordingly, Nostoc fixes nitrogen, and releases hydrogen - a gas that can be used as fuel.

Like living organisms, bacteria also maintain their life through their own metabolism. It is a long chain of chemical reactions that convert nutrients into energy and waste.

Using mathematical computer models, the team drew a metabolic mechanism of a bacterium called Nostoc. Nostoc has fixed nitrogen, and during the process, releases hydrogen, which can be used as fuel.

Fixing nitrogen is a powerful energy processing process and it is clear that we still do not know exactly how this bacterium generates the energy needed to perform the process. And now this new computer system has been used to figure out how this process happens.

Until now, scientists still have many difficulties in finding the path of bacterial metabolism. Bacterial metabolism is a network of many chemical reactions, and even the most complex techniques can only measure part of this chain of reactions.

Dr. Guido Sanguinetti, of the Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, who led the study, said: 'The study has found a relationship that we did not previously know, between the energy structure of Nostoc bacteria and the mechanism. Nostoc's Nitrogen core exchange. Further investigations of metabolism can help to better understand and improve the mechanism of these microbes' generation of hydrogen. Certainly it will take some time before a pot of bacteria can help your car run, but this study has also been a small step in finding sustainable future fuels. '.

He added: 'Our next step is to delve into the mechanism of hydrogen generation, as well as the construction of mathematical computer models capable of integrating many biological data sources. more".

Research by scientists at Sheffield University is the result of interdisciplinary collaboration between computer scientists, chemical engineers following a new principle called Synthetic Biology. The main purpose of Synthetic Biology is to understand which bacterial metabolic pathways are responsible for important functions, and therefore genetically possible to develop possible mechanisms. Performing the desired function is more efficient.