We are requesting support to obtain a preparative HPLC. With this apparatus, the extensive and heavily-used fermentation plant facilities in operation here are complemented and extended. Cells will be grown, collected, broken and, with the HPLC apparatus requested, their contents can be fractionated quickly and with high resolution. The extended capability will greatly accelerate progress in several Federally-supported projects. Projects described herein involve the mechanism of hydrogen production and metabolism in anaerobic bacteria, interconversions of non-heme iron-containing ferredoxins and the possible synthesis of artificial enzymes concerned with electron transport and hydrogen metabolism, methanogenesis and carbon dioxide metabolism, photosynthesis, bioluminescence and growth of anaerobes utilizing interspecies hydrogen transfer and cycling.
