Prof. Kuniki Kino and  assistant Arai were awarded a B.B.B article prize.

L-Amino acid ligase (Lal) is a microbial enzyme. The peptide synthesis using Lal draws attention as an innovative method that can take the place of chemical synthesis and other enzymatic synthesis, because it is more eco-friendly and efficient. However, known Lals synthesize dipeptides and no longer peptides. In this paper, we obtained a novel Lal catalyzing oligopeptide synthesis from a microorganism, a rhizocticin antibiotics producer. Our result made it possible to synthesize various lengths of peptides and consequently enlarged the variety of peptides synthesized by Lal.

Information of our paper

A novel L-amino acid ligase from Bacillus subtilis NBRC3134 catalyzed oligopeptide synthesis

Kuniki Kino, Toshinobu Arai, and Daisuku Tateiwa

Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 74(1) 129-34 (2010)

Details of our paper

Applied Biochemistry Lab is here