D-homolactic Escherichia coli strain

Continuous adaptive laboratory evolution significantly enhanced thermotolerance in the homolactic Escherichia coli system.

The study applied a reverse metabolic engineering strategy to develop a D-homolactic Escherichia coli strain under non-aerated conditions.

Combinatorial analyses revealed complex epistatic interactions among the introduced mutations.

Thermally adapted strains showed convergent mutations in metJ, lrp, and components of the RNA polymerase complex.

Introducing individual point mutations in rpoB and metJ into the parental strain significantly improved growth at high temperatures.

Thermally adapted strains maintained parental volumetric productivity and lactate to glucose yield at high temperatures.