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 farless 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 chemicallymodified 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. Presents the current knowledge of polyaminoacidsand the most recent advances in their industrial and medical applications A valuable source of information for scientists in basic research as well as in the pharmaceutical and food industry Written by experts in their field INDICE: Munenori Takehara, Hideo Hirohara: Occurrence and biosynthesis of poly-epsilon-L-lysine in microorganisms; Yoshimitsu Hamano: Biochemistry and enzymology of poly-epsilon-L-lysine biosynthesis; Toyokazu Yoshida: Biochemistry and enzymology of poly-epsilon-L-lysine degradation; Kazuya Yamanaka, Yoshimitsu Hamano: Biotechnological production of poly-epsilon-L-lysine for food andmedical applications; Makoto Ashiuchi: Occurrence and biosynthetic mechanism of poly-gamma-glutamic acid; Keitarou Kimura: Enzymic degradation of poly-gamma-glutamic acid; Takami Akagi, Michiya Matsusaki, Mitsuru Akashi: Pharmaceutical and medical applications of poly-gamma-glutamic acid; Hiroyuki Tanimoto: Food applications of poly-gamma-glutamic acid."
- ISBN: 978-3-642-12452-5
- Editorial: Springer
- Encuadernacion: Cartoné
- Páginas: 250
- Fecha Publicación: 01/07/2010
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés