M. Manzoni et al., Influence of the culture conditions on extracellular lyase activity related to K5 polysaccharide, BIOTECH LET, 22(1), 2000, pp. 81-85
The K5 capsular polysaccharide antigen of some Escherichia coli strains is
the non-sulphated precursor in heparin biosynthesis. It is composed by two
components, 16 000 and 1500 Da, whose ratio depends on the activity of the
extracellular form of a lyase synthesized by the same K5 producer strain. T
he lyase activity on the K5 chain size was greatly influenced by the medium
composition employed for the lyase production. The control of lyase activi
ty results in defined ratios of the two components in the K5 polysaccharide
that is suitable for the semisynthetic production of heparin-like molecule
s.