Abstract
Microorganisms are capable of producing a wide variety of biopolymers. Homopoly(amino acid)s and homooligo(amino acid)s, which are made up of only a single type of amino acid, are relatively rare; in fact, only two homopoly(amino acid)s have been known to occur in nature: poly(ε-L-lysine) (ε-PL) and poly(γ-glutamic acid) (γ-PGA). Bacterial enzymes that produce homooligo(amino acid)s, such as L-β-lysine-, L-valine-, L-leucine-, L-isoleucine-, L-methionine-, and L-glutamic acid-oligopeptides and poly(α-l-glutamic acid) (α-PGA) have recently been identified, as well as ε-PL synthetase and γ-PGA synthetase. This article reviews the current knowledge about these unique enzymes producing homopoly(amino acid)s and homooligo(amino acid)s.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
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Review
MeSH terms
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Acetyltransferases / metabolism
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Adenosine Triphosphate / metabolism
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Amino Acids / chemistry
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Amino Acids / metabolism*
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Bacterial Proteins / genetics
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Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
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Escherichia coli Proteins / metabolism
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Ligases / chemistry*
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Ligases / metabolism*
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Lysine / analogs & derivatives
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Lysine / metabolism
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Peptide Synthases / chemistry*
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Peptide Synthases / metabolism*
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Polyglutamic Acid / analogs & derivatives
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Polyglutamic Acid / metabolism
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Polylysine / metabolism
Substances
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Amino Acids
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Bacterial Proteins
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Escherichia coli Proteins
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poly(gamma-glutamic acid)
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Polylysine
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Polyglutamic Acid
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beta-lysine
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Adenosine Triphosphate
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Acetyltransferases
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RimL protein, E coli
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Ligases
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Peptide Synthases
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non-ribosomal peptide synthase
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Lysine