The lactic acid bacterium as a cell factory for food ingredient production

In this contribution, the homofermentative lactic acid bacterium as an efficient cell factory for different (food) ingredients will be presented. The emphasis will be on some successful examples of metabolic engineering and on the physiology of these bacteria, which makes them so suitable as a cell factory. One interesting conclusion of the metabolism of these bacteria is that they have clearly chosen for speed instead of efficiency, although some evolutionary results can still not be explained on mechanistic level. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.