Removal of Photosystem I Subunit PsaE Leads to Photosynthetic Hydrogen Production in a Cyanobacterial PsaF‐HoxYH Fusion Strain
Florian Paul, Nadine Strabel, Marko Boehm, Jens Appel, Kirstin Gutekunst · 2026
Read Removal of Photosystem I Subunit PsaE Leads to Photosynthetic Hydrogen Production in a Cyanobacterial PsaF‐HoxYH Fusion Strain by Florian Paul, Nadine Strabel, Marko Boehm, Jens Appel, Kirstin Gutekunst (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13436535.txt.
Description
Paul and colleagues altered the cyanobacterium Synechocystis to produce hydrogen straight from photosynthesis. They fused a hydrogenase enzyme onto photosystem I, the light-catching complex, through its PsaF subunit. Fusing the enzyme places hydrogen production at the very source of light-driven electrons. It skips carbon-based middle steps altogether.
Their first try dialed down the PsaC subunit to reach a more energetic electron cluster. It produced no hydrogen at all in the altered strain. Focus shifted to subunit PsaE. Models hinted it sat in the way of electron transfer from photosystem I to the fused hydrogenase. Removing PsaE from the fusion strain made light-driven hydrogen production possible in the tests. The authors conclude PsaF is a viable, sound anchor point. Taking out steric blockers is a general design lesson for living light-based hydrogen systems, they add.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Florian Paul, Nadine Strabel, Marko Boehm, Jens Appel, Kirstin Gutekunst |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 31 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |