That Lactobacillus arabinosus 17-5, ATCC 8014, can supply its own requirement for the amino acid, lysine, is demonstrated by the fact that the organism is capable of growth in media devoid of lysine. Since the final biosynthetic step in lysine formation in all bacteria studied to date involves the decarboxylation of meso-dlaminopimelic acid (DAP) to produce lysine, it was of interest to determine whether an enzyme catalyzing such a reaction (DAP decarboxylase) is present in L. arabinosus.