Amino-Acid Homopolymers Occurring in Nature

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vii

   PDF

2. Occurrence and Production of Poly-Epsilon-l-Lysine in Microorganisms

   • Munenori Takehara, Hideo Hirohara

   Pages 1-22

3. Biochemistry and Enzymology of Poly-Epsilon-l-Lysine Biosynthesis

   • Yoshimitsu Hamano

   Pages 23-44

4. Biochemistry and Enzymology of Poly-Epsilon-l-Lysine Degradation

   • Toyokazu Yoshida

   Pages 45-59

5. Biotechnological Production of Poly-Epsilon-l-Lysine for Food and Medical Applications

   • Kazuya Yamanaka, Yoshimitsu Hamano

   Pages 61-75

6. Occurrence and Biosynthetic Mechanism of Poly-Gamma-Glutamic Acid

   • Makoto Ashiuchi

   Pages 77-93

7. Enzymatic Degradation of Poly-Gamma-Glutamic Acid

   • Keitarou Kimura, Zui Fujimoto

   Pages 95-117

8. Pharmaceutical and Medical Applications of Poly-Gamma-Glutamic Acid

   • Takami Akagi, Michiya Matsusaki, Mitsuru Akashi

   Pages 119-153

9. Food Applications of Poly-Gamma-Glutamic Acid

   • Hiroyuki Tanimoto

   Pages 155-168

10. Back Matter

    Pages 169-171

    PDF

Microorganisms are capable of producing a wide variety of biopolymers. Homopolymer peptides, which are made up of only a single type of amino acid, are far less ubiquitous. The only two amino-acid homopolymers known to occur in nature are presented in this volume. Poly-epsilon-L-lysine is a polycationic peptide and exhibits antimicrobial activity against a wide spectrum of microorganisms. It is both safe and biodegradable and is therefore used as a food preservative in several countries. In addition, there has been great interest in medical and other applications of poly-lysine and its derivatives. In contrast, poly-gamma-glutamic acid is an unusual anionic polypeptide. It is also water soluble, biodegradable, edible, non-toxic and non-immunogenic and can be chemically modified to introduce various drugs. These features are very useful for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. Poly-glutamic acid is also a highly attractive as a food ingredient.

• Amino acid
• Biopolymers
• Glutamic acid
• Lysine
• Polyaminoacids
• biochemistry
• microorganism

• , Department of Bioscience, Fukui Prefectural University, Fukui, Japan

  Yoshimitsu Hamano

Policies and ethics