Exogenous Vitreoscilla globin gene (vgb), lytic genes of phage lambda with S amber mutation (S(-)RRz) and poly(beta -hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) biosynthetic genes (phbCAB) were cloned into a same Escherichia coli cell, simultaneously or respectively. Six novel strains containing phbCAB and vgb with or without lytic genes were constructed. Strain VG1 (pTU14), in which vgb, phbCAB and S(-)RRz could all be successfully expressed, has superior characteristics in cell growth and PHB accumulation, while the results of strains containing vgb and phbCAB without S(-)RRz were not better than that of strains harbored phbCAB only. The simultaneous expression of vgb and S(-)RRz in the recombinant VG1 (pTU14) showed a great potential for low-cost production of PHB.