Evolutionary engineering of Lactobacillus bulgaricus reduces enzyme usage and enhances conversion of lignocellulosics to D-lactic acid by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation.

We have demonstrated that the SSF strategy, in conjunction with evolutionary engineering, could drastically reduce enzyme requirement and be the way forward for economical production of platform chemicals from lignocellulosics. We have shown that fed-batch SSF processes, designed with multiple pulse-feedings of the pre-treated biomass and enzyme, can be an effective way of enhancing the product concentrations.