Coupling S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methylation to growth: Design and uses.

We present a selection design that couples S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methylation to growth. We demonstrate its use in improving the enzyme activities of not only N-type and O-type methyltransferases by 2-fold but also an acetyltransferase of another enzyme category when linked to a methylation pathway in Escherichia coli using adaptive laboratory evolution. We also demonstrate its application for drug discovery using a catechol O-methyltransferase and its inhibitors entacapone and tolcapone. Implementation of this design in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is also demonstrated.
Competing Interests: I have read the journal's policy, and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests. Luo H. is an inventor of the patent applications WO2017202897 and WO2018108966. Luo H. and Hansen A. S. L. are inventors of the patent application WO2018037098.