ε-Poly-L-lysine (ε-PL) is a homopolymer linked by the peptide bond between the carboxylic and the epsilon amino group of adjacent lysine molecules. It is naturally occurring, water soluble, biodegradable, edible and nontoxic towards humans and environment. ε-PL shows a wide range of antimicrobial activity and is stable at high temperatures. This review focuses on various ε-PL producing strains,...

Primary antibody response against the dinitrophenyl group has been elicited in vitro after the stimulation of normal mouse spleen explants with 2,4-dinitrophenyl (DNP)-hemocyanin or alpha-DNP-poly-L-lysine (PLL). Antibodies were detected in the culture medium by the inactivation of DNP-T4 phage. The specificity of the reaction was manifested by the lack of the capacity of the medium to inactiva...

Bone sialoprotein (BSP) is a bone-specific glycoprotein containing phosphoserine and sulphotyrosine residues and regions of contiguous glutamic acid residues. Recent studies in this laboratory have shown that BSP is capable of nucleating the bone mineral hydroxyapatite in a steady-state agarose gel system. We show here that chemical modification of carboxylate groups abolishes the nucleation ac...

Amphiphilic block copolymers poly(LysAA-b-DMS) consisting of a hydrophilic poly(N-α-acrylamide-L-lysine) [poly(LysAA)] segment with different molecular weights and a hydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) segment were prepared as follows. The precursor copolymer poly(Boc-LysAA-OtBu-b-PDMS) was obtained from radical polymerization of N-α-acrylamide-N-ε-tert-butoxycarbonyl-L-lysine-tert-butylest...

Interactions between the graft copolymer poly(L-lysine)-g-poly(ethylene glycol), PLL-g-PEG, and two kinds of surface-supported lipidic systems (supported phospholipid bilayers and supported vesicular layers) were investigated by a combination of microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. It was found that the application of the copolymer to zwitterionic or negatively charged supported bilayers i...

Using infrequent metadynamics, rare-event electrostatic channeling of glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) is studied on cationic polypeptides. Poly-arginine peptides appear to be more efficient than poly-lysine at electrostatically transferring G6P.

The effects of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and cationic polymers on the adhesion and proliferation of rat islet cells, RIN-5F cells, were investigated. ECM proteins of laminin, fibronectin, vitronectin, type I collagen, type II collagen, and type IV collagen, and cationic polyelectrolytes of poly(L-lysine) and poly(allylamine) were coated on the wells of polystyrene cell culture plates....

Solubilization of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) using noncovalently interacting polymer surfactants in aqueous media has opened up a new vista of SWNTs in biology and medicine. In many potential applications, it is desirable to control the dispersion or aggregation of SWNTs in solvents with external stimuli. Here we report two "smart" SWNT dispersions that respond to temperature and pH...

The ability of polyriboinosionic acid [poly(rI)].polyribocytidylic acid [poly(rC)], mismatched analog poly (rI).poly[r(C12Uracil)n], and poly(rI).poly(rC) complexed with poly L-lysine and carboxymethylcellulose [poly(ICLc)] to induce interferon and the comparative toxicity of each in cats were evaluated. Each induced high levels of circulating interferon, although poly(ICLC) injected intravenou...