This book presents specific key natural and artificial systems that are promising biocatalysts in the areas of health, agriculture, environment and energy. It provides a comprehensive account of the state of the art of these systems and outlines the significant progress made in the last decade using these systems to develop innovative, sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions. Chapters from expert contributors explore how natural enzymes and artificial systems tackle specific targets such as: climate change, carbon footprint and economy and carbon dioxide utilisation; nitrogen footprint and fixation and nitrous oxide mitigation; hydrogen production, fuel cells and energy from bacteria; biomass transformation and production of added-value compounds, as well as biosensors development. This book provides an important and inspiring account for the designing of new natural and artificial systems with enhanced properties, and it appeals not only to students and researchers working in the fields of energy, health, food and environment, but also to a wider audience of educated readers that are interested in these up-to-date and exciting subjects.Chapter "Carbon Dioxide Utilisation-The Formate Route" is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book presents specific key natural and artificial systems that are promising biocatalysts in the areas of health, agriculture, environment and energy. It provides a comprehensive account of the state of the art of these systems and outlines the significant progress made in the last decade using these systems to develop innovative, sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions. Chapters from expert contributors explore how natural enzymes and artificial systems tackle specific targets such as: climate change, carbon footprint and economy and carbon dioxide utilisation; nitrogen footprint and fixation and nitrous oxide mitigation; hydrogen production, fuel cells and energy from bacteria; biomass transformation and production of added-value compounds, as well as biosensors development. This book provides an important and inspiring account for the designing of new natural and artificial systems with enhanced properties, and it appeals not only to students and researchers working in the fields of energy, health, food and environment, but also to a wider audience of educated readers that are interested in these up-to-date and exciting subjects.Chapter "Carbon Dioxide Utilisation-The Formate Route" is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

For some years now, biosensors have been an intense research field as they constitute advantageous alternatives to conventional analytical methods. The electrochemical enzyme based devices are of particular interest due to their sensitivity, selectivity, operational simplicity, low cost and quick response. Third generation biosensors that explore the direct electron transfer between electrodes and enzymes represent the most attractive and simple approach. This work reports the construction of electrochemical nitrite biosensors using cytochrome c nitrite reductase from a sulfate reducing bacterium. Nitrite is an important target analyte with markets in food industry, pollution control and clinical diagnostics. The potential use of the biosensors in real sample analysis, the enhancement of the electrocatalytic activity with carbon nanotubes and surfactants, the ability to protect the enzyme with polymer layers assuring biosensor long term stability, and the possibility to modulate the selectivity with specific matrices, were some of the issues addressed in this work. Overall they constitute important advances in nitrite biosensing with selective enzymes.