Stickland fermentation
Stickland fermentation or The Stickland Reaction
In this way, amino acid fermenting microbes can avoid using hydrogen ions as electron acceptors to produce hydrogen gas. Amino acids can be Stickland acceptors, Stickland donors, or act as both donor and acceptor. Only histidine cannot be fermented by Stickland reactions, and is oxidised. With a typical amino acid mix, there is a 10% shortfall in Stickland acceptors, which results in hydrogen production. Under very low hydrogen partial pressures, increased uncoupled anaerobic oxidation has also been observed.
It occurs in proteolytic clostridiums such as:
Additionally, sarcosine and betaine can act as electron acceptors.[2]
References
- PMID 13140081.
- ISBN 978-3-642-30122-3.