Progress in biosynthesis of ε-poly-L-lysine and genetic transformation for ε-poly-L-lysine producer-A review

Abstract:

Abstract: ε-Poly-L-lysine (ε-PL) is a polymer with strong antimicrobial activity and consists of 25-35 L-lysine monomers linked via ε-amino-α-carboxyl peptide bond. This polymer is one of only two homo-poly(amino acid) polymers known in nature. To date, the biosynthesis mechanism of ε-PL was remained unclear. Recently, ε-PL synthetase was identified as a nonribosomal peptide synthetase and it utilized L-lysine to synthesize ε-PLs of various chain length by iteratively condensing reaction, which was similar to typeⅠpolyketide synthase and was not determined by ε-PL-degrading enzyme. Meanwhile, the shutter vectors pLAE001 and pLAE003, special for ε-PL producer have been constructed, which is significant for studying ε-PL biosynthesis. In this review, the biosynthesis of ε-PL and the genetic transformation were introduced. Also, the study in our group was presented and the views related to ε-PL study were raised. Finally, the prospect of application of combinational biosynthesis in ε-PL-producing strain improvement was also discussed considering ε-PL synthetase is a nonribosomal peptide synthetase containing several modules.