After years of denying any wrongdoing, the company pleaded guilty to conspiring to fix prices for the livestock feed-supplement lysine and for citric acid, an additive found in .
Wilson and Whitacre were soon discussing the price of lysine in talks with representatives of ADM's two biggest rivals in the field, the Japanese companies Ajinomoto and Kyowa Hakko.
The process is called " autolysis" and the unknown causal agent a " lysin.