Journal article

Publication year: 2005

Pages: 249-258

Journal: Plant Biotechnology Journal

Volume number: 3

Issue number: 2

ISSN: 1467-7644

eISSN: 1467-7652

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7652.2005.00122.x

Publisher: Wiley

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.

Harvard Citation style: Neumann, K., Stephan, D., Ziegler, K., Hühns, M., Broer, I., Lockau, W., et al. (2005) Production of cyanophycin, a suitable source for the biodegradable polymer polyaspartate, in transgenic plants, Plant Biotechnology Journal, 3(2), pp. 249-258. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7652.2005.00122.x

APA Citation style: Neumann, K., Stephan, D., Ziegler, K., Hühns, M., Broer, I., Lockau, W., & Pistorius, E. (2005). Production of cyanophycin, a suitable source for the biodegradable polymer polyaspartate, in transgenic plants. Plant Biotechnology Journal. 3(2), 249-258. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7652.2005.00122.x