Improved methyl supply for 5-methyltetrahydrofolate production in E. coli through a novel C1 transfer pathway

We successfully engineered E. coli by introducing a novel exogenous C1 metabolic pathway to augment the methyl donor pool essential for the biosynthesis of 5-MTHF. Further metabolic optimizations, including the enhancement of the THF precursor flux and the elimination of competing degradation pathways, developed a recombinant strain with significantly increased yield, which paves the way for industrial production of 5-MTHF.