초록
<P><B>Highlights</B></P><P>► We created a starch-rich <I>Arabidopsis</I> plant to serve as better feedstock for bioH<SUB>2</SUB> production. ► The mutant plant contained 4-time higher starch content than that of wild-type plant. ► An indigenous isolate <I>Clostridium butyricum</I> CGS2 was used to efficiently produce bioH<SUB>2</SUB> using the mutant plant at different feedstock loadings. ► This work demonstrated the feasibility of applying genetic modification techniques to improve the quality of feedstock for bioH<SUB>2</SUB> production.</P> <P><B>Abstract</B></P><P>A mutant plant (<I>Arabidopsis thaliana</I>), <I>sex1-1</I> (<I>starch excess 1-1</I>), accumulating high starch content in leaves was created to serve as better biomass feedstock for a H<SUB>2</SUB>-producing strain <I>Clostridium butyricum</I> CGS2, which efficiently utilizes starch for H<SUB>2</SUB> production but cannot assimilate cellulosic materials. The starch content of the mutant plant increased to 10.67mg/fresh weight, which is four times higher than that of wild type plant. Using <I>sex1-1</I> mutant plant as feedstock, <I>C. butyricum</I> CGS2 could produce 490.4ml/l of H<SUB>2</SUB> with a H<SUB>2</SUB> production rate of 32.9ml/h/l. The H<SUB>2</SUB> production performance appeared to increase with the increase in the concentration of mutant plant from 2.5 to 10g/l. The highest H<SUB>2</SUB> to plant biomass yield was nearly 49ml/g for the mutant plant. This study successfully demonstrated the feasibility of using a starch-rich mutant plant for more effective bioH<SUB>2</SUB> production with <I>C. butyricum</I> CGS2.</P>