Review

Biosynthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoates: Current research and development

Pin-Yuan Tian^1,2 , Longan Shang ^1,2, Hong Ren¹, Yu Mi ², Dai-Di Fan² and  Min Jiang³

¹Ningbo Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University, Ningbo 315100, China.

²Northwest University, Xi’an 710000, China.

³Nanjing University of Technology, Nanjing 210009, China.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: Lashang@nit.zju.edu.cn. Tel: +86-574-8822-9546. Fax: +86-574-88229075.

Accepted 19 December, 2008

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) as an attractive biopolymer with a wide range of applications have been extensively studied. Many new strategies have been employed to effectively and economically produce PHAs. This mini-review mainly focuses on the research and development of new PHAs-producing strains, utilization of renewable materials or industrial wastes, and high cell density culture technologies for PHAs production developed in recent years. The status of PHAs mass production is also introduced here.

Key words: Polyhydroxyalkanoates, biosynthesis, new research progress.