转基因培育可合成生物降解塑料的农作物

DEVELOPING CROP PLANTS FOR PRODUCTION OF BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS BY TRANSGENIC APPROACHES

源于石油化工的塑料废弃物所造成的“白色污染”已严重影响到农业生产和生态环境,作为石化塑料的替代品,生物可降解塑料是可再生的环保产品。聚羟基丁酸酯(PHB)和蓝藻素等生物质多聚物是生产生物降解塑料所需的高分子化合物。本文论述了应用基因工程,培育可合成PHB和蓝藻素等多聚物农作物的技术策略及研究进展,并讨论了培育合成生物降解塑料转基因植物所面临的挑战和发展前景。

＂White pollution＂ caused by petroleum-derived plastic wastes is harmful to agriculture and ecosystem seriously. As a sustainable alternative of conventional plastic, biodegradable plastic is environmental safety and renewable. Biomass polymers such as Poly-β-hydroxybutyrate （PHB） and cyanophycin are high-molecular-weight compounds for the production of biodegradable plastic. The article is focused on the current progress on the development of the transgenic crops accumulating PHB and cyanophycin by the gene engineering approach. The challenge and prospect of transgenic plant based production of biodegradable plastic was also discussed.