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Poly(β-l-malic acid) (PMLA) from Aureobasidium spp. and its current proceedings

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Abstract

Poly(β-l-malic acid) is one natural biopolymer that has the outstanding features of biocompatibility, biodegradability, water solubility, and non-immunogenicity, and it is easily chemically modified. So poly(β-l-malic acid) (PMLA) and its derivatives may have a great potential application as a novel drug delivery system and in the production of advanced biomaterials which have attracted so much research attention. The fungi of Aureobasidium spp. have been discovered to be the most suitable candidates for PMLA production in large quantities which satisfy the demand of either research or industry. In this review, we will give an overall summary about the PMLA produced by Aureobasidium spp. based on related research in the last decades and the elaboration of this PMLA producer will also be accomplished. More importantly, the latest proceedings will be specified and some suggestions to the elucidation of a PMLA biosynthesis pathway which remains undefined up to date will be proposed. Finally, through this review, the further exploitation for the application of PMLA from Aureobasidium spp. can be emphasized and promoted.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Grant No. ZR2014CZ001, National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31500029), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2014M560576 ).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China, Yushan Road, No 5, Qingdao, China

    Zhe Chi, Guang-Lei Liu, Chen-Guang Liu & Zhen-Ming Chi

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  1. Zhe Chi
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  2. Guang-Lei Liu
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  3. Chen-Guang Liu
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Correspondence to Zhen-Ming Chi.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

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Zhe Chi and Guanglei Liu contributed equally to this work.

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Chi, Z., Liu, GL., Liu, CG. et al. Poly(β-l-malic acid) (PMLA) from Aureobasidium spp. and its current proceedings. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 100, 3841–3851 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7404-0

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