Substantially monodispersed poly(epsilon-L-lysine)s frequently occurred in newly isolated strains of Streptomyces sp.

The presence of poly(epsilon-L-lysine) (epsilon-PL) was found quite frequently by screening various strains of Streptomyces sp. Most of the ten newly obtained epsilon-PLs, when they were produced from glucose, showed a polydispersity index of Mw/Mn = 1.01 using ion-pair chromatography analysis. The polymers were classified into five groups according to their chain lengths. The average numbers of residues in the five groups were 32, 28, 25, 19, and 16, respectively. The use of glycerol instead of glucose resulted in decreases of 10 to 20% in the Mn and slight increases in the Mw/Mn. These observations indicated the chain length and polydispersity of epsilon-PL were primarily determined by each producer strain. Proton and 13C NMR analysis revealed the signals of glycerol-derived ester at the C terminus of the polymer from several producers including the first discovered S. albulus strain, although the percentages of the ester were low under our culture conditions. These results, coupled with the previous observation that SO4(2-) was essential for the polymer production, led to discussion on the mechanistic aspects of monomer activation, elongation, and termination in the biosynthesis of epsilon-PL.

Biosynthesis of poly(epsilon-L-lysine)s in two newly isolated strains of Streptomyces sp.

The biosynthesis of poly(epsilon-L-lysine) (epsilon-PL) in the two newly isolated strains of Streptomyces lydicus USE-11 (USE-11) and Streptomyces sp. USE-51 (USE-51) was studied by a newly developed two-stage culture method of cell growth at pH 6.8 and epsilon-PL production at pH 4.5. USE-11 synthesized epsilon-PL consisting of about 28 residues at a high production level, whereas USE-51 did the polymer with 15 ones at a low level. The secreted epsilon-PLs in culture media were digested in a neutral pH range with a peptide hydrolase(s) produced by the epsilon-PL producers. The optimum production levels were presumed to be dependent upon the inherent epsilon-PL synthesis machinery of each producer. The production in USE-51 was sharply dependent upon cell density as was often observed in the production of antibiotics, whereas that in USE-11 was scarcely affected by the density. The SO(4)(2-) was found to be essential for the epsilon-PL production in both strains. This might suggest the involvement of a thiol group in the polymerization reactions including the activation of L-lysine. This study indicates that USE-11 is a most suitable strain for the exploration of the epsilon-PL biosynthesis at the molecular level as well as for the technical applications.