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Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Peptide-derived Method to Transport Genes and Proteins Across Cellular and Organellar Barriers in Plants
Published on: December 16, 2016
Production of cyanophycin, a suitable source for the biodegradable polymer polyaspartate, in transgenic plants
Katrin Neumann1, Dirk Paul Stephan, Karl Ziegler
1Agrobiotechnologie, Universität Rostock, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 8, 18059 Rostock, Germany.
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.
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