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Biotechnology

Unnatural biopolymers

Nature Materials volume 1, pages 207–208 (2002)Cite this article

Genetically engineered bacteria could become polymer factories of the future. Bacteria can now turn non-natural chemicals into polythioesters — a new class of thermoplastic polymers hitherto inaccessible through chemical synthesis.

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Figure 1: The versatile production of polymers through biosynthetic routes.
Figure 2: Catalysis of polymerization of polythioesters by the enzyme PHA synthase.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Innovative and Engineered Materials, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama, 226-8502, Japan

    Yoshiharu Doi

  2. Polymer Chemistry Laboratory, RIKEN Institute, Hirosawa, Wako-shi, 351-0198, Saitama, Japan

    Yoshiharu Doi

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  1. Yoshiharu Doi
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Doi, Y. Unnatural biopolymers. Nature Mater 1, 207–208 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat783

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