Review on production and medical applications of ɛ-polylysine

ɛ-Polylysine (ɛ-PL) is a homopolyamide linked by the peptide bond between the carboxylic and epsilon amino group of adjacent lysine molecules. It is naturally occurring biodegradable and nontoxic towards human. This review article gives an insight about the various ɛ-PL producing strains, their screening procedures, mechanism of synthesis, characterization, and its application in the medical field. The poly cationic nature of ɛ-PL at physiological pH makes it as one of the potential candidates in the field of drug delivery. Most of the biomedical applications till date use synthetic α-PLL as a raw material. However, it is believed that naturally occurring ɛ-PL would be an ideal substitute.

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► ɛ-Polylysine is naturally occurring biodegradable and nontoxic towards human.
► A comprehensive report on biosynthetic mechanism and molecular genetics of ɛ-PL production were discussed.
► Strain isolation, microbial production and purification of ɛ-PL were also discussed.
► ɛ-PL have various biomedical application like dietary agent, drug carriers, anticancer agent enhancer, biochip coatings.