title: Production of cyanophycin, a suitable source for the biodegradable polymer polyaspartate, in transgenic plants.
abstract: The production of biodegradable polymers in transgenic plants in order to replace petrochemical compounds is an important challenge for plant biotechnology. Polyaspartate, a biodegradable substitute for polycarboxylates, is the backbone of the cyanobacterial storage material cyanophycin. Cyanophycin, a copolymer of l-aspartic acid and l-arginine, is produced via non-ribosomal polypeptide biosynthesis by the enzyme cyanophycin synthetase. A gene from Thermosynechococcus elongatus BP-1 encoding cyanophycin synthetase has been expressed constitutively in tobacco and potato. The presence of the transgene-encoded messenger RNA (mRNA) correlated with changes in leaf morphology and decelerated growth. Such transgenic plants were found to produce up to 1.1% dry weight of a polymer with cyanophycin-like properties. Aggregated material, able to bind a specific cyanophycin antibody, was detected in the cytoplasm and the nucleus of the transgenic plants.
authors.affiliation: Agrobiotechnologie, Universität Rostock, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 8, 18059 Rostock, Germany.
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Neumann
authors.forename: Dirk Paul
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Stephan
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ziegler
authors.forename: Maja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hühns
authors.forename: Inge
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Broer
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lockau
authors.forename: Elfriede K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Pistorius