Microbial lactate utilization: enzymes, pathogenesis, and regulation.

Lactate utilization endows microbes with the ability to use lactate as a carbon source. Lactate oxidizing enzymes play key roles in the lactate utilization pathway. Various types of these enzymes have been characterized, but novel ones remain to be identified. Lactate determination techniques and biocatalysts have been developed based on these enzymes. Lactate utilization has also been found to induce pathogenicity of several microbes, and the mechanisms have been investigated. More recently, studies on the structure and organization of operons of lactate utilization have been carried out. This review focuses on the recent progress and future perspectives in understanding microbial lactate utilization.