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A genetic method to enhance the accumulation of S-adenosylmethionine in yeast

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Abstract

S-Adenosylmethionine (SAM) is a key component of sulphur amino acid metabolism in living organisms and is synthesised from methionine and adenosine triphosphate by methionine adenosyltransferase. This molecule serves as the main biological methyl donor due to its active methylthio ether group. Notably, SAM has shown beneficial effects in clinical trials for the treatment of alcoholic liver disease, depression and joint pain. Due to the high potential value of SAM, current research efforts are attempting to develop a more rapid, cost-effective and higher yielding SAM production method than the conventional production system. In this mini-review, we describe the previously reported yeast gene that contributes to SAM accumulation by overexpression, mutation or deletion and summarise the genetic approach for the production of SAM in large industrial quantities.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Dai Hirata (Hiroshima University and Asahi-Shuzo Sake Brewing Co., Ltd.), Dr. Kazunori Kume, Takafumi Ogawa (Hiroshima University), Dr. Osamu Yamada, Akihiro Mizuno, Dr. Kazuo Masaki, Dr. Hiroko Ikeda, Yasumichi Takaoka, Mitsunori Masuda, Yoshie Yoshida, Yasuko Kita, Tomoko Kawata (NRIB), Dr. Daisuke Watanabe (Nara Institute of Science and Technology) and Dr. Hitoshi Shimoi (Iwate University) for their constant guidance, support and helpful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Institute of Brewing, 3-7-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-0046, Japan

    Muneyoshi Kanai, Tsutomu Fujii & Haruyuki Iefuji

  2. Hiroshima Research Center for Healthy Aging, Graduate School of Advanced Sciences of Matter, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8530, Japan

    Masaki Mizunuma

  3. Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University, 1-4-4, Kagamiyama, Higashi-hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8528, Japan

    Tsutomu Fujii & Haruyuki Iefuji

  4. Present Address: Faculty of Agriculture, Ehime University, 3-5-7 Tarumi, Matsuyama, Ehime, 790-8566, Japan

    Haruyuki Iefuji

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  1. Muneyoshi Kanai
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  2. Masaki Mizunuma
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  3. Tsutomu Fujii
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  4. Haruyuki Iefuji
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Correspondence to Muneyoshi Kanai.

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Kanai, M., Mizunuma, M., Fujii, T. et al. A genetic method to enhance the accumulation of S-adenosylmethionine in yeast. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 101, 1351–1357 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-017-8098-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-017-8098-7

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