Abstract
Previous works from our laboratory indicated relatively high hydrogen evolution capacity in the heterocystous cyanobacterium, Anabaena variabilis IAM M58. It has an uptake hydrogenase encoded by hupSL. Bidirectional hydrogenase genes (hox) have also been cloned and sequenced in our laboratory. In this work we report cloning and sequencing of uptake hydrogenase genes hupS and L by PCR strategy. The nucleotide sequence showed high homology to reported sequences of cyanobacteria and bacteria. Deduced amino acid sequences of hupS (897 bases) and hupL (1545 bases) showed 84.6% and 82.2% identities with those of Anabaena sp. strain PCC7120, and 90.6% and 87.3% with Nostoc sp. PCC73102, respectively. However, 99bp intergenic region between hupS and hupL, making hairpin loop structures is significantly shorter than that of Nostoc PCC73102(192bp). These unique characteristics coupled with high hydrogen production capacity make this strain a good candidate for genetic manipulation of hydrogenase genes for improvement of hydrogen production.
