Characterization and designing of an SAM riboswitch to establish a high‐throughput screening platform for SAM overproduction in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

AbstractS‐adenosyl‐ l‐methionine (SAM) is a high‐value compound widely used in the treatment of various diseases. SAM can be produced through fermentation, but further enhancing the microbial production of SAM requires novel high‐throughput screening methods for rapid detection and screening of mutant libraries. In this work, an SAM‐OFF riboswitch capable of responding to the SAM concentration was obtained and a high‐throughput platform for screening SAM overproducers was established. SAM synthase was engineered by semirational design and directed evolution, which resulted in the SAM2S203F,W164R,T251S,Y285F,S365R mutant with almost twice higher catalytic activity than the parental enzyme. The best mutant was then introduced into Saccharomyces cerevisiae BY4741, and the resulting strain BSM8 produced a sevenfold higher SAM titer in shake‐flask fermentation, reaching 1.25 g L−1. This work provides a reference for designing biosensors to dynamically detect metabolite concentrations for high‐throughput screening and the construction of effective microbial cell factories.