Abstract
Hydrogen production involves the use of hydrogenase (H2ase) enzyme, especially for photohydrogen production. Specific detection of fermentative hydrogen producing bacteria from the microbial communities is achieved based on the universal Iron-hydA primers. In the present study, the primers for the H2ase gene were designed, followed by the isolation of the DNA from the selected hydrogen producing microorganisms. Amplification of the genome by the designed primers were carried out by the polymerase chain reaction. The PCR primers designed were HyF, Hyff, HyR and Hyrr. The primers were analyzed and best fitted by the computer aided program. The resulted primers were amplified (400 bps) from the genome of the selected hydrogen producing microorganisms. This work was carried out as a preliminary assay in molecular cloning of hydrogenase genes by primer designing from the selected strains for the improvement of hydrogen production process.
Keywords: Hydrogen production, hydrogenase gene, nitrogenase gene, DNA isolation, PCR primers, primer designing, HyF, Hyff, HyR and Hyrr, gene amplification, Hydrogen uptake, autotrophic, thermophilic, oxidizing bacterium, H-cluster