Bacterial strains that are engineered to increase the production of amino acids, including aspartate-derived amino acids (e.g., methionine, lysine, threonine, isoleucine, and S-adenosylmethionine (S-AM)) and cysteine, and related metabolites are described. The strains can be genetically engineered to harbor one or more nucleic acid molecules (e.g., recombinant nucleic acid molecules) encoding a polypeptide (e.g., a polypeptide that is heterologous or homologous to the host cell) and/or they may be engineered to increase or decrease expression and/or activity of polypeptides (e.g., by mutation of endogenous nucleic acid sequences).