Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Green chemistry yields a better plastic

Nature Biotechnology volume 17, pages 960–961 (1999)Cite this article

In almost all production chains, reducing the number of intermediates can improve yield and reduce costs. The same holds true for the synthesis of organic molecules from biological systems. Whereas bacterial fermentation can be used to produce a myriad of useful compounds, including biodegradable plastics such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), synthesis typically relies on a carbon source such as glucose that has been produced and extracted from crop plants. Synthesis of novel compounds directly in plants would thus be, in many cases, the best approach to produce bulk commodity products at low cost. In this issue, Gruys and colleagues1 at Monsanto report an important advance in the application of this strategy. Through the metabolic engineering of plants, they have synthesised a useful biodegradable plastic from the family of PHAs.

This is a preview of subscription content

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: (A) Synthesis of PHBV by bacterial fermentation using glucose derived from crop plants.

References

  1. Gruys, K.J. et al. Nat. Biotechnol. 17, ′–′ (1999).

  2. Poirier, Y., Nawrath, C. & Somerville, C. Bio/Technology 13, 142– 150 (1995).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. De Koning, G. Can. J. Microbiol. 41 (suppl. 1), 303– 309 (1995).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Lee, S.Y. Trends Biotechnol. 14, 431–438 (1996).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Gerngross, T.U. Nat. Biotechnol. 17, 541–544 (1999).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Poirier, Y. Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 10, 181–185 (1999).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Poirier, Y. et al. Science 256, 520–523 (1992).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Nawrath, C., Poirier, Y. & Somerville, C. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91, 12760–12764 (1994).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Mittendorf, V. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, 13397 –13402 (1998).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Mittendorf, V. et al. Plant J. in press (1999).

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. assistant professor at the Institut d'Écologie-Biologie et Physiologie Végétales, Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, CH1015, Switzerland

    Yves Poirier

Authors
  1. Yves Poirier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Poirier, Y. Green chemistry yields a better plastic. Nat Biotechnol 17, 960–961 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/13652

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/13652

Further reading

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing