William Atkins
Saturday, 15 November 2008 03:07
Science -
Energy
Page 1 of 2
A small biotech company from Massachusetts has invented a way to grow biodegradable plastic within the leaves of switchgrass. Hey, green plastic!
The biotechnology company
Metabolix, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A., has commercialized a way to grow plastic in switchgrass.
The company genetically modifies switchgrass so that it makes granules of plastic as it grows.
Kristi Snell, who is the director of plant science at Metabolix, states, “It’s a finished product.” [Popular Science: “Growing Plastic” (December 2008, page 28)]
Switchgrass, scientifically called
Panicum virgatum, is a warm season perennial grass that is part of the larger group of North American tallgrasses. It grows primarily in the late spring to early fall, and then becomes dormant in the cold winter months of the year.
The species is also called lowland switchgrass, blackbent, wild redtop, thatchgrass, and tall panic grass.
The scientists at Metabolix change the genes of switchgrass so that a nontoxic, naturally occurring compound called polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is produced.
Page two describes a short history of PHB.
