Increasing glycolysis by deletion of kcs1 and arg82 improved S-adenosyl-L-methionine production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Reprogramming glycolysis for directing glycolytic metabolites to a specific metabolic pathway is expected to be useful for increasing microbial production of certain metabolites, such as amino acids, lipids or considerable secondary metabolites. In this report, a strategy of increasing glycolysis by altering the metabolism of inositol pyrophosphates (IPs) for improving the production of S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) for diverse pharmaceutical applications in yeast is presented. The genes associated with the metabolism of IPs, arg82, ipk1 and kcs1, were deleted, respectively, in the yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae CGMCC 2842. It was observed that the deletions of kcs1 and arg82 increased SAM by 83.3 % and 31.8 %, respectively, compared to that of the control. In addition to the improved transcription levels of various glycolytic genes and activities of the relative enzymes, the levels of glycolytic intermediates and ATP were also enhanced. To further confirm the feasibility, the kcs1 was deleted in the high SAM-producing strain Ymls1ΔGAPmK which was deleted malate synthase gene mls1 and co-expressed the Acetyl-CoA synthase gene acs2 and the SAM synthase gene metK1 from Leishmania infantum, to obtain the recombinant strain Ymls1Δkcs1ΔGAPmK. The level of SAM in Ymls1Δkcs1ΔGAPmK reached 2.89 g L-1 in a 250-mL flask and 8.86 g L-1 in a 10-L fermentation tank, increasing 30.2 % and 46.2 %, respectively, compared to those levels in Ymls1ΔGAPmK. The strategy of increasing glycolysis by deletion of kcs1 and arg82 improved SAM production in yeast.