Les lipopeptides de Bacillus: des molécules bioactives à structure particulière et à forte potentialité d'application [Bacillus lipopeptides : bioactives molecules with particular structure and high application potential]

Abstract

Since the end of the 20th century, the efforts regarding the environment protection have been increasingly intensified. As most of surfactants used at present arise from the chemical industry, the search for new biological surfactants or biosurfactants of microbial origin with lesser side effects is of great interest. Neutral lipids, glycolipids, phospholipids, lipopolysaccharides and lipopeptides are listed among biosurfactants. Lipopeptides synthetized by microorganisms, in particular those of the genus Bacillus, are the most promising, because of their excellent interfacial properties and their biological activities. Surfactines, fengycines and iturines are the main families of biosurfactants produced by the genus through a ribosome-independent mechanism. Considering their potentialities and their harmlessness, lipopeptides have been used in various fields such as environment petroleum industry and agronomy. The application of lipopeptides in the foodprocessing and pharmaceutical industries should be improved. This review is a synthesis of the knowledge acquired, until now, on the biosurfactants produced by the genus Bacillus. We have focused on the structure of lipopeptides, their mode of synthesis as well as their biological activities and their potential applications.

Keywords

• Lipopeptides Bacillus Bioactive molecules
• Biological activities
• Biotechnological applications