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A biosurfactant termed arthrofactin produced by Arthrobacter species strain MIS38 was purified and chemically characterized as 3-hydroxydecanoyl-D-leucyl-D-asparagyl-D-threonyl-D-leucyl-D-leucyl-D-seryl-Lleucyl-D-seryl-L-isoleucyl-L-isoleucyl-L-asparagyl lactone. Surface activity of arthrofactin was examined, with surfactin as a control.

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Arthrobacter species have been reported to produce extracellular glycolipids (12, 20), none of which lowers the surface tension of water to 30 mN/m. We describe the chemical structure of a new lipopeptide-type biosurfactant.

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There were two genera, Arthrobacter and Brevibacterium, in this section which show a cell morphology typical of the rod-coccus cycle. Finally, strain MIS38 was determined to be an Arthrobacter sp., because the strain showed motility and a lysine

residue was found in the peptidoglycan. We named the biosurfactant produced by strain MIS38 arthrofactin. The production of surfactants was also confirmed by formation of a clear zone on blood agar plates.

(M. Morikawa, H. Daido, T. Takao, S. Murata, Y. Shimonishi, T. Imanaka - 1993)