2018 Volume 64 Issue 4 Pages 198-201
A biosensor screening assay based on the synthesis of betaxanthin was applied to relatively high throughput screening of the L-tyrosine mutant library. In the assays, fluorescence output showed a linear relationship between extracellular L-tyrosine content and yellow pigment formation. In addition, the yellow pigment accumulation of the L-tyrosine high-yield strain can be easily distinguished with the naked eye compared with the wild-type strain. As a result, numerous mutants that exhibited significantly increased coloration, were screened out after random mutagenesis, and p-coumaric acid production in mutants NK-A3 and NK-B4, were remarkably improved by 4-fold more than that of the wild-type strain. In general, this study provides a novel strategy for screening mutant libraries in the search for highly L-tyrosine-producing strains.