Controlled Compartmentation of Enzymes for Plant Metabolic Engineering

除了从石油中不可再生地生产外，不可降解的塑料对环境和人类健康都构成了问题。可生物降解的聚酯，如聚-3-羟基丁酸酯（PHB），正在成为减轻这些影响的一种方式，并且鉴于对塑料的依赖和需求日益增加，可能变得至关重要。在植物中生产PHB已被证明是具有挑战性的，因为PHB的生产似乎会影响健康植物的生长和发育。我们提出了一种代谢工程策略，涉及植物中的PHB生产的区室化和时间控制。我们认为，这样的策略将减轻对植物健康的负面影响的聚羟基丁酸生产，并允许植物生产成为与石油衍生塑料的竞争力。

As well as being produced non-renewably from petroleum, nondegradable plastic poses issues both to the environment and human health. Biodegradable polyesters, such as poly-3-hydroxybutarate (PHB), are emerging as a way of mitigating these effects, and may become critical given the increasing dependence on and demand of plastics. Producing PHBs in plants has proved to be challenging because PHB production seems to affect the growth and development of a healthy plant. We propose a metabolic engineering strategy involving compartmentation and temporal control over PHB production in plants. We suggest that such a strategy will alleviate the negative effects of PHB production on plant health and allow for plant production to become competitive with petroleum-derived plastics.