ε-Polylysine (ε-poly-L-lysine, EPL) is typically produced as a homopolypeptide of approximately 25–30 L-lysine residues. According to research, ε-polylysine is adsorbed electrostatically to the cell surface of the bacteria, followed by a stripping of the outer membrane. ε-Polylysine is a homopolymer of L-lysine linked by the peptide bond between the carboxyl and ε- amino groups. ε-PL is water soluble, biodegradable, edible and non-toxic towards human and the environment. Hence, its derivatives have been used the past few years for a broad range of industrial applications such as food, medicine, environment and electronics. ε-PL exhibits antimicrobial activity against a wide spectrum of microorganisms, including Grampositive and Gram-negative bacteria.

Worldwide, there is a huge demand of the transportation fuels on the other hand there is access to petroleum oil reserves. Hence, there is more emphasis on renewable and alternative resource of energy to cope with ever increase demand. glycerol is generated as stoichiometric byproduct with a ratio of 10 % (w/w) with respect to biodiesel produced that cannot be used for food grade applications or other applications due to its poor quality. Basically this material could be valuable low cost carbon source and renewable material for synthesis of ε-Polylysine (ε-PL).

A novel and faster screening was implemented on the basis of growth and ε-PL content. Screening was carried out by streaking bacterial isolates on agar plates containing basic dye methylene blue. The growth medium containing (g/l) glycerol 10, ammonium sulphate 1.0, disodium hydrogen phosphate 0.5, magnesium sulphate 0.25, yeast extract 0.5, potassium dihydrogen phosphate 0.5, agar 2%, and methylene blue 0.02% were maintained at pH 7.0.

Among obtained bacterial isolates from west coast of India, a potential halophilic bacterial isolate identified as Bacillus licheniformis that can grow in crude glycerol and at the same time produces ε-PL at a concentration of 155 mg/l. However, other investigators have reported ε-PL production from Streptomyces albulus and Bacillus sp. with even higher yield (up to 565-2460 mg/l), but the study mentioned in literature is confined to pure glycerol/glucose as carbon source. Downstream processing of ε-PL was carried out through precipitation of ε-PL (present in the fermentation broth) with sodium tetraphenyl borate.

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