Microorganism producing o-phosphoserine and method of producing L-cysteine or derivatives thereof from O-phosphoserine using the same

A method for producing cysteine or a derivative thereof, comprising:

• (a) culturing a recombinant microorganism in which the activity of an endogenous phosphoserine phosphatase (SerB) and a phosphonate transporter (PhnCDE;
• phnC (ATP-binding component of phosphonate transport, EG 10713)-phnD (periplasmic binding protein component of Pn transporter, EG 10714)-phnE (integral membrane component of the alkylphosphonate ABC transporter, EG 11283)) is reduced, and the activity of a phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (SerA) is enhanced, to produce O-phosphoserine (OPS);
• wherein the level of endogenous SerB or PhnCDE activity is reduced by deletion of the endogenous SerB or PhnCDE gene
• wherein the level of SerA activity is increased by increasing copy number of the SerA gene or changing an endogenous promoter into a strong promoter, wherein the phosphoserine phosphatase comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:
• 1 or SEQ ID NO:2 and wherein the SerA having increased activity comprises the amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:
• 3, 5, 6, and 7;
• and
• (b) reacting the OPS of step (a) with a sulfide in presence of O-phosphoserine sulfhydrylase (OPSS) or a microorganism expressing OPSS, to produce cysteine or derivatives thereof, wherein the OPSS comprises the amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:
• 9, 10 and 12;
• wherein the recombinant microorganism has been further modified to
• (i) enhance the activity of a nucleotide transhydrogenase (PntAB), wherein the level of nucleotide transhydrogenase activity is enhanced by increasing the copy number of a gene encoding the nucleotide transhydrogenase or changing an endogenous promoter into a strong promoter;
• and/or
• (ii) enhance the activity of at least one enzyme selected from the group consisting of o-acetylserine/cysteine efflux permease (YfiK), homoserine/homoserine lactone efflux protein (RhtB), and threonine/homoserine efflux protein (RhtC), wherein the level of enzyme activity is enhanced by increasing the copy number of a gene encoding the enzyme or changing an endogenous promoter into a strong promoter.