Abstract

Bacterial biosynthesis of lysine has come under increased scrutiny as a target for novel antibacterial agents as it provides both lysine for protein synthesis and meso-diaminopimelate for construction of the bacterial peptidoglycan cell wall. Recent studies of the enzymes of the lysine biosynthetic pathway, development of inhibitors and investigations of their antibacterial properties are discussed.

Keywords: lysine, dap pathway, diaminopimelate, antibiotics, enzyme inhibitors