Production of hydrogen by anaerobes, facultative anaerobes, aerobes, methylotrophs, and photosynthetic bacteria is possible. Anaerobic Clostridia are potential producers and immobilized C. butyricum produces 2 mol H2/mol glucose at 50% efficiency. Spontaneous production of H2 from formate and glucose by immobilized Escherichia coli showed 100% and 60% efficiencies, respectively. Enterobactericiae produces H2 at similar efficiency from different monosaccharides during growth. Among methylotrophs, methanogenes, rumen bacteria, and thermophilic archae, Ruminococcus albus, is promising (2.37 mol/mol glucose). Immobilized aerobic Bacillus licheniformis optimally produces 0.7 mol H2/mol glucose. Photosynthetic Rhodospirillum rubrum produces 4, 7, and 6 mol of H2 from acetate, succinate, and malate, respectively. Excellent productivity (6.2 mol H2/mol glucose) by co-cultures of Cellulomonas with a hydrogenase uptake (Hup) mutant of R. capsulata on cellulose was found. Cyanobacteria, viz., Anabaena, Synechococcus, and Oscillatoria sp., have been studied for photoproduction of H2. Immobilized A. cylindrica produces H2 (20 ml/g dry wt/h) continually for 1 year. Increased H2 productivity was found for Hup mutant of A. variabilis. Synechococcus sp. has a high potential for H2 production in fermentors and outdoor cultures. Simultaneous productions of oxychemicals and H2 by Klebseilla sp. and by enzymatic methods were also attempted. The fate of H2 biotechnology is presumed to be dictated by the stock of fossil fuel and state of pollution in future.

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The dependence on base-pair composition and sequence specificity of the (aristololactam beta-D-glucoside)-DNA interaction was examined by spectrophotometric, spectrofluorometric, spectropolarimetric, thermal melting, thermodynamic, and viscometric studies. Binding of this alkaloid to various natural and synthetic DNAs was dependent upon the base composition and sequences of DNA. The binding parameters obtained from spectrophotometric analysis, according to an excluded-site model, indicated a relatively high affinity of the alkaloid binding to GC-rich DNA and alternating GC polymer. This affinity was further evidenced by the quenching of fluorescence intensity, decrease in quantum yield, and perturbations in circular dichroic spectrum. The alkaloid stabilized all DNAs against thermal denaturation. The temperature dependence of the binding constants was used to estimate the thermodynamic parameters involved in the complex formation of the alkaloid with various DNAs. The negative enthalpy and entropy change increased with increasing GC content of DNA and also compensated one another to produce a relatively small Gibbs free energy change. Viscometric studies showed that in the strong binding region the increase of contour length of DNA depended strongly on its base composition and sequence of bases, being larger for GC-rich DNA and alternating GC polymer. On the basis of these observations, it is concluded that the alkaloid binds to DNA by a mechanism of intercalation and exhibits considerable specificity toward alternating GC polymer.

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