RESEARCH ARTICLE

Journal of Oil Palm Research (Special Issue - July 2008),

CONSTRUCTION OF PHB AND PHBV TRANSFORMATION VECTORS FOR BIOPLASTICS PRODUCTION IN OIL PALM

ABDUL MASANI Mat Yunus* ; HO Chai-Ling** ; AHMAD PARVEEZ Ghulam Kadir*

ABSTRACT

The construction of transformation vectors carrying bioplastic biosynthetic genes driven by constitutive and oil palm mesocarp-specific promoters was completed. Four planned transformation vectors were produced. The poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) producing constructs carried the phbA, phbB and phbC genes, while the polyhyroxybutyrate-co-valerate (PHBV) producing constructs carried the bktB, phbB, phbC and tdcB genes. Each of these genes was fused with the transit peptide (Tp) of the oil palm acyl-carrier-protein (ACP) for targeting into the plastids of plant cells. All vectors carry the phosphinothricin acetyltransferase gene (bar) driven by an ubiquitin promoter as plant selectable marker. The matrix attachment region from tobacco (RB7MAR) was also included for stabilization of the transgene expression and to minimize the gene silencing due to positional effects. All constructs were verified by restriction analysis, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA sequencing.

KEYWORDS:


* Malaysian Palm Oil Board,
P. O. Box 10620,
50720 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
E-mail: masani@mpob.gov.my

** Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences,
Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 Serdang,
Selangor, Malaysia.

Journal of Oil Palm Research Special Issue on Malaysia-MIT Biotechnology Partnership Programme: Volume 2 - Oil Palm Metabolic Engineering