Patent 8008048 was granted and assigned to AJINOMOTO CO., INC. on August, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The present invention provides a bacterium belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae which has L-cysteine-producing ability and has been modified to decrease the activity of the protein encoded by the yhaM gene. This bacterium is cultured in a medium, and L-cysteine, L-cystine, their derivatives, or a mixture thereof is collected from the medium.