Navigation Links
'Green' plastics could help reduce carbon footprint
Date:2/11/2009

COLUMBIA, Mo. More than 20 million tons of plastic are placed in U.S. landfills each year. Results from a new University of Missouri study suggest that some of the largely petroleum-based plastic may soon be replaced by a nonpolluting, renewable plastic made from plants. Reducing the carbon footprint and the dependence on foreign oil, this new 'green' alternative may also provide an additional cash crop for farmers.

"Making plastics from plants is not a new idea," said Brian Mooney, research assistant professor of biochemistry with the MU Interdisciplinary Plant Group. "Plastics made from plant starch and soy protein have been used as an alternative to petroleum-based plastics for a while. What is relatively new and exciting is the idea of using plants to actually grow plastics."

By employing a number of modern molecular techniques, scientists are able to introduce three bacterial enzymes into the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. When combined with two enzymes from the plant, an organic polymer is produced. The polymer, known as polyhdroxybutyrate-co-polyhydroxyvalerate, or PHBV, is a flexible and moldable plastic that can be used to produce a wide range of products, such as grocery bags, soda bottles, disposable razors and flatware. When discarded, the plastic is naturally degraded into water and carbon dioxide by bacteria in the soil.

"Of the two plant enzymes that supply the chemical precursors for PHBV, one is produced in the mitochondria. Recently, we've successfully modified plants so that this enzyme is diverted to the chloroplast, which has been defined as the best place in the plant to produce PHBV," said Mooney, who is also associate director of the Charles Gehrke Proteomics Center in the MU Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center. "We also confirmed that a stable, functional complex is formed."

These recent advances potentially remove two of the remaining technological hurdles limiting the ability of companies from t
'/>"/>

Contact: Melody Kroll
KrollMM@missouri.edu
573-884-4144
University of Missouri-Columbia
Source:Eurekalert

1

GOOD

Page: 1 2

Related biology news :

1. Green tea boosts production of detox enzymes, rendering cancerous chemicals harmless
2. New study shows greenback cutthroat trout involved in recovery effort misidentified
3. American Chemical Society calls green chemistry bill a smart step
4. Salmon garnish points the way to green electronics
5. Using green chemistry to deliver cutting-edge drugs
6. Green skies: Engineers work may reduce jet travels role in global warming
7. A greenhouse in order to study the impact of climate change on plants
8. Green leather is in this season
9. Study involving more than 100 scientists provides new insights on green algae
10. Green alga genome project catalogs carbon capture machinery
11. Green algae -- the nexus of plant/animal ancestry

Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
(Date:12/1/2009)...world first, a Monash University-led international...boost the output of the next generation of solar c...aboration with colleagues from the universities of...em dye-sensitised solar cells with a three-fold in...th previously reported tandem dye-sensitised solar...
(Date:12/1/2009)...iness, like a bad cold, can spread among groups of...e University of California-San Diego and Harvard s...e study that has been following health conditions ...hat lonely people tend to share their loneliness w..., disconnected people moves to the fringes of soci...
(Date:11/30/2009)...MSON Clemson University researchers Ron Falta and...ntal Protection Agency grant to study the safe sto...cated deep below the earth,s surface. , With car...lieved to be the leading cause of global warming, ...mising alternatives for reducing emissions using c...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):Innovation puts next-generation solar cells on the horizon 2Loneliness can be contagious 2Loneliness can be contagious 3Iowa Drug Card a Huge Success With Iowans 55345 1Iowa Drug Card a Huge Success With Iowans 55345 2Cardiome Pharma Corp Announces Tender Offer To Purchase Up To US 2427 5 Million Of Its Common Shares 55342 1Cardiome Pharma Corp Announces Tender Offer To Purchase Up To US 2427 5 Million Of Its Common Shares 55342 2Cardiome Pharma Corp Announces Tender Offer To Purchase Up To US 2427 5 Million Of Its Common Shares 55342 3Cardiome Pharma Corp Announces Tender Offer To Purchase Up To US 2427 5 Million Of Its Common Shares 55342 4Cardiome Pharma Corp Announces Tender Offer To Purchase Up To US 2427 5 Million Of Its Common Shares 55342 5Cardiome Pharma Corp Announces Tender Offer To Purchase Up To US 2427 5 Million Of Its Common Shares 55342 6CorVel Announces Expansion to Share Buyback Program 55339 1CorVel Announces Expansion to Share Buyback Program 55339 2CorVel Announces Expansion to Share Buyback Program 55339 3
...ssor Laurie Raymundo is senior editor and co-autho...coral diseases, " Coral Disease Handbook: Guidelin... book summarizes the most recently developed metho...mage, of coral diseases. Accompanying the book is ...ases and syndromes known globally. , Designed fo...
...iety of sizes and shapes, making them the perfect ...to Analyzer is "rapidly becoming the standard for ...to a study led by Marin Talbot Brewer of The Ohio ...Crop Science. Details of the team,s latest Tomato ... of the Journal of the American Society for Horti...
...stresses that transplanted trees must endure from ...blished in a landscape. Multiple stress factors ca...or trees. For starters, when "balled-and-burlapped...f the root system is often separated from the tree...aken to a loading site and placed on trucks or tra...
Other Biology News:New and improved tomato analyzer 2Tree survival skills 2Tree survival skills 3
(Date:12/1/2009)..., , SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 1 ...ack almost half the value it lost in October. The ...o an excellent month for the general markets with ...nt in value. The gains held firm in the final two ... about sluggish Thanksgiving holiday shopping and ...
(Date:12/1/2009)... Congruent Software agree...including project accounting clients) to Synergy B... Seattle, WA (PRWEB) Decemb... today it has acquired the Microsoft Dynamics SL p...ness technology provider. The move was necessary d...
(Date:12/1/2009)..., , HUNTINGTON BEACH, California ... a world leader in molecular cancer diagnostics, a...t B Medicare administrator, has established,coding...maPrint is Agendia,s,FDA-cleared breast cancer rec...since 2008. , Patients across the United ...
(Date:12/1/2009)..., , SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire-Fir...tin Board: MZEI) announced today that in tests inv... it continues to break "6 log" decontamination bar...ming bacteria, Claustridium difficile and Bacillis...Sure(TM) as an extremely potent sporicidal technol...
Breaking Biology Technology:Biotech Gets Back on Track in November 2Biotech Gets Back on Track in November 3Biotech Gets Back on Track in November 4Synergy Business Solutions Acquires the Microsoft Dynamics SL Practice of Congruent Software, Inc. 2Synergy Business Solutions Acquires the Microsoft Dynamics SL Practice of Congruent Software, Inc. 3Medicare Administrator Establishes Reimbursement Coding Policy for Agendia's Breast Cancer Recurrence Test MammaPrint(R) 2Medizone International Takes Aim at the Bioterrorism Countermeasures Arena 2
...NovaQuest has,made a strategic investment in TOPIG...maceutical company specializing in respiratory,dis...ment of C$26 million,(US$25 million) in the Montre...ovaQuest, the strategic partnering group,of Quinti...ase II,lead-product clinical programs. NovaQuest a...
... Addressing Unmet Needs of Criticall...nference Call Scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET -, IRVIN...I ) announced today that it received a not approva...ion (FDA) after completing the,review of the new d...,mifamurtide (L-MTP-PE), formerly known as Junovan...
...oniard,Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: PARD ), a b...y announced that Jerry McMahon, Ph.D., chairman an...early September: The Thomas Weisel Partners Healt... 4:25 p.m. Eastern time at the Four Seasons Hotel ...h Industry" conference on,Thursday, September 6, a...
Other Biology Technology:NovaQuest Advances 'Virtual Development' Model With Strategic Investment in TOPIGEN Pharmaceuticals 2IDM Pharma Receives Not Approvable Letter for Mifamurtide (L-MTP-PE) for the Treatment of Osteosarcoma 2IDM Pharma Receives Not Approvable Letter for Mifamurtide (L-MTP-PE) for the Treatment of Osteosarcoma 3IDM Pharma Receives Not Approvable Letter for Mifamurtide (L-MTP-PE) for the Treatment of Osteosarcoma 4IDM Pharma Receives Not Approvable Letter for Mifamurtide (L-MTP-PE) for the Treatment of Osteosarcoma 5IDM Pharma Receives Not Approvable Letter for Mifamurtide (L-MTP-PE) for the Treatment of Osteosarcoma 6IDM Pharma Receives Not Approvable Letter for Mifamurtide (L-MTP-PE) for the Treatment of Osteosarcoma 7Poniard Pharmaceuticals Announces Participation in Upcoming Conferences 2
...me HRP Conjugate Stabilizer is an aqueous solution... non-toxic stabilizing chemicals in a MOPS buffer ....7. This product contains a combination of 0.02% ...0 ppm Proclin 300 (Rohm and Haas Company) as a pre...
Multi - Organ Tissue - Arrays from Dominion Pharmakine S.L.
Microarray Gene Frame (330uL) from ABgene
...me products feature a dual strength adhesive syste... after use. The adhesives on either side of the fr...eres to the glass has an easy release adhesive whe...orms a stronger bond. This means that when the cov...
Biology Products: