Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 24 April 1992:
Vol. 256. no. 5056, pp. 520 - 523
DOI: 10.1126/science.256.5056.520
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Polyhydroxybutyrate, a Biodegradable Thermoplastic, Produced in Transgenic Plants

Yves Poirier 1, Douglas E. Dennis 2, Karen Klomparens 3, and Chris Somerville 4

1 Department of Energy-Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824
2 Department of Biology, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA 22807
3 Department of Botany and Plant Pathology and Center for Electron Optics, Pesticide Research Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824
4 Department of Energy-Plant Research Laboratory and Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824

Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a high molecular weight polyester, is accumulated as a storage carbon in many species of bacteria and is a biodegradable thermoplastic. To produce PHB by genetic engineering in plants, genes from the bacterium Alcaligenes eutrophus that encoded the two enzymes required to convert acetoacetyl—coenzyme A to PHB were placed under transcriptional control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter and introduced into Arabidopsis thaliana. Transgenic plant lines that contained both genes accumulated PHB as electron-lucent granules in the cytoplasm, nucleus, and vacuole; the size and appearance of these granules were similar to the PHB granules that accumulate in bacteria.

Submitted on December 20, 1991
Accepted on March 6, 1992


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Polyhydroxyalkanoate Granules Are Complex Subcellular Organelles (Carbonosomes).
D. Jendrossek (2009)
J. Bacteriol. 191, 3195-3202
   Full Text »    PDF »
Inducible Trans-activation of Plastid Transgenes: Expression of the R. eutropha phb Operon in Transplastomic Tobacco.
A. Lossl, K. Bohmert, H. Harloff, C. Eibl, S. Muhlbauer, and H.-U. Koop (2005)
Plant Cell Physiol. 46, 1462-1471
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Engineering Cytoplasmic Male Sterility via the Chloroplast Genome by Expression of {beta}-Ketothiolase.
O. N. Ruiz and H. Daniell (2005)
Plant Physiology 138, 1232-1246
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Production of Polyhydroxybutyrate by Polycistronic Expression of Bacterial Genes in Tobacco Plastid.
Y. Arai, T. Shikanai, Y. Doi, S. Yoshida, I. Yamaguchi, and H. Nakashita (2004)
Plant Cell Physiol. 45, 1176-1184
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Synthesis of a Novel Class of Polyhydroxyalkanoates in Arabidopsis Peroxisomes, and Their Use in Monitoring Short-Chain-Length Intermediates of {beta}-Oxidation.
Y. Arai, H. Nakashita, Y. Suzuki, Y. Kobayashi, T. Shimizu, M. Yasuda, Y. Doi, and I. Yamaguchi (2002)
Plant Cell Physiol. 43, 555-562
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Production of a Biodegradable Plastic Polymer, Poly-{beta}-Hydroxybutyrate, in Transgenic Alfalfa.
P. Saruul, F. Srienc, D. A. Somers, and D. A. Samac (2002)
Crop Sci. 42, 919-927
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Involvement of glnB, glnZ, and glnD Genes in the Regulation of Poly-3-Hydroxybutyrate Biosynthesis by Ammonia in Azospirillum brasilense Sp7.
J. Sun, A. Van Dommelen, J. Van Impe, and J. Vanderleyden (2002)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 68, 985-988
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Assembly of Two Transgenes in an Artificial Chromatin Domain Gives Highly Coordinated Expression in Tobacco.
L. Mlynarova, A. Loonen, E. Mietkiewska, R. C. Jansen, and J.-P. Nap (2002)
Genetics 160, 727-740
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Synthesis of Polyhydroxyalkanoate in the Peroxisome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by Using Intermediates of Fatty Acid beta -Oxidation.
Y. Poirier, N. Erard, and J. M.-C. Petetot (2001)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 67, 5254-5260
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Changing Paradigms in Plant Breeding.
M. Koornneef and P. Stam (2001)
Plant Physiology 125, 156-159
   Full Text »
Plants as Factories for Technical Materials.
C. R. Somerville and D. Bonetta (2001)
Plant Physiology 125, 168-171
   Full Text »
Application of a Propionyl Coenzyme A Synthetase for Poly(3-Hydroxypropionate-co-3-Hydroxybutyrate) Accumulation in Recombinant Escherichia coli.
H. E. Valentin, T. A. Mitsky, D. A. Mahadeo, M. Tran, and K. J. Gruys (2000)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 66, 5253-5258
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Analysis of the Alternative Pathways for the beta -Oxidation of Unsaturated Fatty Acids Using Transgenic Plants Synthesizing Polyhydroxyalkanoates in Peroxisomes.
L. Allenbach and Y. Poirier (2000)
Plant Physiology 124, 1159-1168
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Inactivation of Isocitrate Lyase Leads to Increased Production of Medium-Chain-Length Poly(3-Hydroxyalkanoates) in Pseudomonas putida.
S. Klinke, M. Dauner, G. Scott, B. Kessler, and B. Witholt (2000)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 66, 909-913
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Increased Flow of Fatty Acids toward beta -Oxidation in Developing Seeds of Arabidopsis Deficient in Diacylglycerol Acyltransferase Activity or Synthesizing Medium-Chain-Length Fatty Acids.
Y. Poirier, G. Ventre, and D. Caldelari (1999)
Plant Physiology 121, 1359-1366
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Engineering of Stable Recombinant Bacteria for Production of Chiral Medium-Chain-Length Poly-3-Hydroxyalkanoates.
M. A. Prieto, M. B. Kellerhals, G. B. Bozzato, D. Radnovic, B. Witholt, and B. Kessler (1999)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 65, 3265-3271
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Metabolic Engineering of Poly(3-Hydroxyalkanoates): From DNA to Plastic.
L. L. Madison and G. W. Huisman (1999)
Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 63, 21-53
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Production of Medium-Chain-Length Poly(3-Hydroxyalkanoates) from Gluconate by Recombinant Escherichia coli.
S. Klinke, Q. Ren, B. Witholt, and B. Kessler (1999)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 65, 540-548
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Synthesis of medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates in Arabidopsis thaliana using intermediates of peroxisomal fatty acid beta -oxidation.
V. Mittendorf, E. J. Robertson, R. M. Leech, N. Kruger, A. Steinbuchel, and Y. Poirier (1998)
PNAS 95, 13397-13402
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Metabolic pathway engineering in cotton: Biosynthesis of polyhydroxybutyrate in fiber cells.
M. E. John and G. Keller (1996)
PNAS 93, 12768-12773
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Constitutive Expression of the beta -Ketothiolase Gene in Transgenic Plants. A Major Obstacle for Obtaining Polyhydroxybutyrate-Producing Plants.
K. Bohmert, I. Balbo, A. Steinbuchel, G. Tischendorf, and L. Willmitzer (2002)
Plant Physiology 128, 1282-1290
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)