Production of Biodegradable Thermoplastic in higher plants

这是一个探索性研究的小补助金。 细菌基因 聚β-羟基丁酸酯（PHB）将从 细菌Alcaligenes eutrophus导入植物拟南芥 thaliana. 然后就可以确定 这些基因可以在植物中表达， 所制得的PHB是稳定的。 如果这些初步实验 将进行成功的进一步实验，以最大限度地提高 植物组织中的PHB浓度。 PHB形成 可生物降解塑料和植物中的有效表达， 从而将其成本降低到实际水平。 这些 实验也可以帮助回答为什么植物 放弃了作为储存化合物的聚羟基丁酸，转而使用淀粉和油。

This is a Small Grant for Exploratory Research. Bacterial genes for poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) will be transferred from the bacterium Alcaligenes eutrophus into the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. It will then be possible to determine whether or not these genes can be expressed in plants, and whether or not the PHB made is stable. If these preliminary experiments are successful further experiments would be undertaken to maximize the concentration of PHB in the plant tissues. PHB forms a biodegradable plastic and efficient expression in plants could lead to reducing its costs to practical levels. These experiments could also help answer the question of why plants abandoned PHB as a storage compound in favor of starch and oils.