Plant transformation research has come to the closing stages. To understand the workings of Metabolix, we need to know the source of this work. As the chief scientist of Metabolix, Oliver Peoples has been a researcher for twenty years in Aso Health. During that time, he found a lot of new gene sequences in bacteria in the soil. The bacteria studied can produce a carbon polymer called PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates) in the natural environment.

     PHA is a linear carbon polymer produced by fermentative sugars by the genus Eumecobacter. These organisms use PHA as an energy storage intermediary, just as High-light Dyestuff our animals use glycogen. People realize that PHA can be used to make plastic, and after we abandoned natural degradation.

     Scientists spent nearly a decade of hard work to overcome the difficulties, so that bacteria can produce sufficient quantities of PHA to be tested. Even under optimal conditions, bacteria still can not produce sufficient PHA to meet production requirements. The whole project breakthrough comes from the transgenic technology.