Development of a synthetic transcription factor-based S-adenosylmethionine biosensor in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Biotechnol Lett. 2023 Feb;45(2):255-262. doi: 10.1007/s10529-022-03338-8. Epub 2022 Dec 22.

Abstract

S-Adenosylmethionine (SAM) is a crucial small-molecule metabolite widely used in food and medicine. The development of high-throughput biosensors for SAM biosynthesis can significantly improve the titer of SAM. This paper constructed a synthetic transcription factor (TF)-based biosensor for SAM detecting in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The synthetic TF, named MetJ-hER-VP16, consists of an Escherichia coli-derived DNA-binding domain MetJ, GS linker, the human estrogen receptor binding domain hER, and the viral activation domain VP16. The synthetic biosensor is capable of sensing SAM in a dose-dependent manner with fluorescence as the output. Additionally, it is tightly regulated by the inducer SAM and β-estradiol, which means that the fluorescence output is only available when both are present together. The synthetic SAM biosensor could potentially be applied for high-throughput metabolic engineering and is expected to improve SAM production.

Keywords: Biosensor; High-throughput; S-Adenosylmethionine (SAM); Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Synthetic transcription factor.

MeSH terms

  • Biosensing Techniques*
  • Escherichia coli / metabolism
  • Etoposide / metabolism
  • Humans
  • S-Adenosylmethionine* / metabolism
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae* / metabolism
  • Transcription Factors* / genetics
  • Transcription Factors* / metabolism

Substances

  • Etoposide
  • S-Adenosylmethionine
  • Transcription Factors