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.

中文翻译：

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S-腺苷甲硫氨酸依赖性甲基化与生长的耦合：设计和用途

我们提出了一个将S-腺苷甲硫氨酸依赖性甲基化与生长耦合的选择设计。我们展示了其在通过适应性实验室进化技术连接到大肠杆菌中的甲基化途径时，不仅可以将N型和O型甲基转移酶的酶活性提高2倍，而且可以提高另一种酶类别的乙酰转移酶的活性。我们还展示了其使用邻苯二酚O-甲基转移酶及其抑制剂entacapone和tolcapone在药物发现中的应用。还证明了该设计在酿酒酵母中的实施。