Biohydrogen production beyond the Thauer limit by precision design of artificial microbial consortia

Dark fermentative biohydrogen (H-2) production could become a key technology for providing renewable energy. Until now, the H-2 yield is restricted to 4 moles of H-2 per mole of glucose, referred to as the Thauer limit. Here we show, that precision design of artificial microbial consortia increased the H-2 yield to 5.6 mol mol(-1) glucose, 40% higher than the Thauer limit. In addition, the volumetric H-2 production rates of our defined artificial consortia are superior compared to any mono-, co- or multi-culture system reported to date. We hope this study to be a major leap forward in the engineering of artificial microbial consortia through precision design and provide a breakthrough in energy science, biotechnology and ecology. Constructing artificial consortia with this drawing-board approach could in future increase volumetric production rates and yields of other bioprocesses. Our artificial consortia engineering blueprint might pave the way for the development of a H-2 production bioindustry.