Plastics and synthetic fibres from microorganisms: a dream or a potential reality?

Potential microbial routes to the production of plastics and synthetic fibres can be divided into three categories. These are: (i) the production of biopolymers possessing the properties of plastics, (ii) the use of microorganisms as biocatalysts to produce specialized chemical intermediates or monomers, and (iii) the release of usable chemicals from renewable carbon sources such as lignin.