title: Fermentative Production of Cysteine by Pantoea ananatis.
abstract: Cysteine is a commercially important amino acid; however, it lacks an efficient fermentative production method. Due to its cytotoxicity, intracellular cysteine levels are stringently controlled via several regulatory modes. Managing its toxic effects as well as understanding and deregulating the complexities of regulation are crucial for establishing the fermentative production of cysteine. The regulatory modes include feedback inhibition of key metabolic enzymes, degradation, efflux pumps, and the transcriptional regulation of biosynthetic genes by a master cysteine regulator, CysB. These processes have been extensively studied usingEscherichia colifor overproducing cysteine by fermentation. In this study, we genetically engineeredPantoea ananatis, an emerging host for the fermentative production of bio-based materials, to identify key factors required for cysteine production. According to this and our previous studies, we identified a major cysteine desulfhydrase gene,ccdA(formerly PAJ_0331), involved in cysteine degradation, and the cysteine efflux pump genescefAandcefB(formerly PAJ_3026 and PAJ_p0018, respectively), which may be responsible for downregulating the intracellular cysteine level. Our findings revealed thatccdAdeletion andcefAandcefBoverexpression are crucial factors for establishing fermentative cysteine production inP. ananatisand for obtaining a higher cysteine yield when combined with genes in the cysteine biosynthetic pathway. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of cysteine production inP. ananatis, which has fundamental implications for establishing overproduction in this microbe.IMPORTANCEThe efficient production of cysteine is a major challenge in the amino acid fermentation industry. In this study, we identified cysteine efflux pumps and degradation pathways as essential elements and genetically engineeredPantoea ananatis, an emerging host for the fermentative production of bio-based materials, to establish the fermentative production of cysteine. This study provides crucial insights into the design and construction of cysteine-producing strains, which may play central roles in realizing commercial basis production.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Bioscience Products & Fine Chemicals, Ajinomoto Co., Inc., Kawasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takumi
authors.affiliation: Ajinomoto-Genetika Research Institute, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Mikhail Kharisovich
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Ziyatdinov
authors.affiliation: Ajinomoto-Genetika Research Institute, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Viktor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Samsonov
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Bioscience Products & Fine Chemicals, Ajinomoto Co., Inc., Kawasaki, Japan gen_nonaka@ajinomoto.com.
authors.forename: Gen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nonaka
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods; D003542:Cystathionine gamma-Lyase / Q000378:metabolism; D003545:Cysteine / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000494:pharmacology; D015536:Down-Regulation; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D005285:Fermentation; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000379:methods; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000235:genetics; D020636:Pantoea / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D017384:Sequence Deletion
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C068355:CcdA protein, Bacteria; C062886:CysB protein, Bacteria; D003542:Cystathionine gamma-Lyase; D003545:Cysteine
keywords: Pantoea ananatis; amino acid fermentation; cysteine; cysteine desulfhydrase; cysteine efflux