title: Polyhydroxybutyrate, a biodegradable thermoplastic, produced in transgenic plants.
abstract: 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.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Poirier
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Dennis
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Klomparens
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Somerville