Bio-plastic products

In Germany University of Rostock Bio-Scientists are conducting a field trial of a genetically modified potatoes which would provide the raw material for a biodegradable environmentally safe plastic. The scientists have successfully regenerated potatoes in which a gene from a cyanobacterium (blue-green algae) has been transferred using gene cloning technology. The cloned gene produce the polypeptide cyanophycin in the potatoes providing the raw material for a biodegradable plastic that would help prevent environmental degradation due to excessive use of synthetic plastics. Currently plastic is manufactured from petroleum-based products which is a non-renewable resource and the product is not bio-degradable. Scientists developing the cyanophycin potatoes have already succeeded in increasing the yield from an initial 1% to 6% of the dry mass of the potatoes. These genetically modified potatoes would be utilized primarily for starch production with the stacked trait for cyanophycin production as a secondary product. The new stacked gene cloning technology would provide two important product from the same plant.