Abstract
Poly(ε-l-lysine) (ε-PL) is a naturally-occurring l-lysine homopolymer having antimicrobial activity. A newly-isolated strain of Streptomyces aureofaciens produced a short chain length ε-PL consisting of 5–20 residues at the highest production level of 4.5 g l–1. This ε-PL had different spectra in terms of antimicrobial activity from the ε-PL that is now used as a food preservative. The high productivity was based on multiple metabolic pathways for l-lysine synthesis, and a great flux from l-lysine to ε-PL. The usefulness of this new ε-PL and its producing strain was discussed.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Chisso (Tokyo) for providing the purified ε-PL samples.
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Takehara, M., Hibino, A., Saimura, M. et al. High-yield production of short chain length poly(ε-l-lysine) consisting of 5–20 residues by Streptomyces aureofaciens, and its antimicrobial activity. Biotechnol Lett 32, 1299–1303 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-010-0294-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-010-0294-9