lactic acid fermentation
traitmech:000026 · CLASS · REVIEWED
A fermentation in which sugars are converted mainly to lactate, with ATP generated by substrate-level phosphorylation. Homolactic fermentation yields ~2 lactate per glucose via glycolysis; heterolactic fermentation also yields ethanol/acetate and CO2. Characteristic of lactic acid bacteria (e.g. Lactobacillus, Lactococcus).
Lactic acid fermentation converts sugars to lactate
Edge evidence
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lactic acid fermentation
participates in
fermentation
biolink:participates_inLactic acid fermentation is a class of fermentation metabolism.
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DOI:10.3389/fmicb.2021.703525
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lactic acid fermentation
produces
lactate
METPO:2007800Lactate is the characteristic end product of the pathway.
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DOI:10.3390/molecules31020333
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glucose
is fermented via
EMP/glycolysis pathway
Homofermentative LAB ferment glucose mainly via the EMP/glycolysis pathway.
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DOI:10.3390/fermentation10030168
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EMP/glycolysis pathway
has output
pyruvate
RO:0002234Glycolysis yields pyruvate as the intermediate reduced to lactate.
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DOI:10.3390/foods12152850
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pyruvate
is converted by
lactate dehydrogenase
Pyruvate is the substrate of lactate dehydrogenase.
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DOI:10.3390/foods12152850
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lactate dehydrogenase
produces
lactate
METPO:2007800Lactate dehydrogenase reduces pyruvate to lactate.
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DOI:10.3390/foods12152850
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phosphoketolase pathway
yields
lactate
biolink:producesHeterofermentative phosphoketolase route yields lactate among its products.
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DOI:10.3390/fermentation10030168
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phosphoketolase pathway
yields
carbon dioxide
biolink:producesHeterolactic phosphoketolase route co-produces CO2.
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DOI:10.3390/fermentation10030168
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phosphoketolase pathway
yields
ethanol
biolink:producesHeterolactic phosphoketolase route co-produces ethanol (or acetate).
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DOI:10.3390/fermentation10030168
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lactate
causes
decreased pH
biolink:causesAccumulation of lactic acid acidifies the medium.
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DOI:10.3390/fermentation10030168
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decreased pH
inhibits
pathogenic/spoilage microbe
RO:0002212Lactate-driven acidification inhibits spoilage and pathogenic microbes (biopreservation).
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DOI:10.3390/fermentation10030168
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Provenance
- Source
- METPO (2025-11-25)
- Definition source
- DOI:10.3389/fmicb.2021.703525
Parent traits (1)
Synonyms (1)
- lactate fermentation
kg-microbe context
Matched 1 kg-microbe node via parent_proxy.
METPO:1002005[-0.758, -6.428, +3.551, +10.454, …]
Nearest neighbors in embedding space
- metabolism mixed-acid fermentation 1.000
- metabolism fermentative hydrogen production 1.000
- metabolism propionic acid fermentation 1.000
- metabolism ethanol fermentation 1.000
- metabolism Fermentation 1.000
- metabolism respiration 0.644
- metabolism Anaerobic respiration 0.600
- metabolism anaerobic oxidation of methane 0.600
Deep research
# TraitMech curation report: lactic acid fermentation ## 1. Trait record and scope - **Trait label:** lactic acid fermentation - **Trait identifier:** `traitmech:000026` - **Category / kind / status:** METABOLISM / CLASS / REVIEWED - **Parent:** `METPO:1002005` - **Synonym:** lactate fermentation ### Operational definition This trait is the microbial capacity to conserve energy by fermentatively converting carbohydrate-derived pyruvate mainly to lactate. ATP is generated principally by substrate-level phosphorylation in glycolysis, while lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) reoxidizes NADH to NAD+, allowing glycolysis to continue. In the canonical homolactic route, one glucose gives approximately two pyruvate, two lactate, and net two ATP; reported experimental lactate yields are approximately 0.74–0.99 g per g substrate versus a theoretical value near 1 g/g. (gayathri2023roleofaerobic pages 4-6, gayathri2023roleofaerobic pages 7-8, bintsis2018lacticacidbacteria pages 1-3) The class should include both: 1. **Homolactic fermentation:** lactate is the dominant carbon end product, commonly through the Embden–Meyerhof–Parnas pathway. 2. **Heterolactic fermentation:** the phosphoketolase pathway yields lactate together with CO2 and ethanol and/or acetate. Product allocation depends on redox balance and growth conditions. (bintsis2018lacticacidbacteria pages 1-3, bintsis2018lacticacidbacteria pages 3-7) ### Boundary cases Do **not** equate the trait with any observation of lactate production. The following should normally be excluded or separately represented: - **Aerobic glycolysis/Warburg metabolism:** lactate production in oxygenated eukaryotic cells is not necessarily microbial fermentation. - **Malolactic fermentation:** malate is decarboxylated to lactate and CO2; this is an acid-modulating conversion, not sugar-to-lactate energy metabolism. - **Lactate oxidation or assimilation:** lactate is the substrate rather than the fermentation product. - **Chemical lactic-acid synthesis** and polymerization to polylactic acid. - **Mixed-acid fermentation with only minor lactate:** curate as lactic acid fermentation only if lactate is a defining or major end product under the assayed condition. - **Genotype-only predictions:** the presence of an `ldh` homolog is insufficient because LDHs can differ in stereospecificity, direction, cofactor use, and physiological role. Fermentation mode is also condition-dependent. Carbon limitation, temperature, pH, oxygen, and NADH-reoxidation capacity can redirect nominally homofermentative organisms toward mixed products. Obligately heterofermentative examples include *Lactobacillus brevis*, *L. fermentum*, and *L. reuteri*, whereas *Lactiplantibacillus plantarum*, *Lactococcus lactis*, *L. casei*, and *L. rhamnosus* can exhibit facultative heterofermentative behavior. (bintsis2018lacticacidbacteria pages 1-3, bintsis2018lacticacidbacteria pages 3-7) ## 2. Candidate graph nodes ### Pathways and biological processes - Lactic acid fermentation — `traitmech:000026` - Glycolytic process / EMP pathway — `GO:0006096` - Substrate-level phosphorylation — label-only pending identifier verification - Homolactic fermentation — label-only candidate - Heterolactic phosphoketolase pathway — label-only candidate - NAD+ regeneration — label-only candidate - Pyruvate-to-lactate fermentation — label-only candidate - Acid-stress response — label-only candidate - Intracellular-pH homeostasis — label-only candidate - Lactate export — label-only candidate - Mixed-acid fermentation — label-only boundary node ### Chemicals and cofactors - Glucose — `CHEBI:17234` - Pyruvate — `CHEBI:15361` - Lactate, unspecified stereochemistry — `CHEBI:24996` - L-lactate — `CHEBI:57945` - D-lactate — `CHEBI:16004` - NADH — `CHEBI:16908` - NAD+ — `CHEBI:57540` - ATP — `CHEBI:15422` - Carbon dioxide — `CHEBI:16526` - Ethanol — retain label-only here pending CURIE verification
Curation history
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PROPOSED_FROM_RESEARCH · claude
Proposed candidate METABOLISM trait (lactic acid fermentation); product-specific sub-variant of the existing Fermentation class (METPO:1002005).
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CURATED_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude
Added evidence-backed causal graph (lactic acid fermentation / lactate production) with GO node grounding and METPO/biolink predicate groundings; promoted PROPOSED to REVIEWED.
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GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude
Grounded 1 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (CHEBI:24996×1).
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ENRICH_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude
Added 9 evidence-backed generic edges (9 new nodes) from the deep-research report.
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GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES · claude
Grounded 7 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv (biolink:produces×3, METPO:2000202×2, biolink:causes×1, RO:0002212×1).
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GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude
Grounded 3 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (CHEBI:17234×1, CHEBI:16526×1, CHEBI:16236×1).
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GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude
Grounded 1 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (CHEBI:15361×1).
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GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude
Grounded 1 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (UniProtKB:A0A073JRC3×1).
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RETRACT_DEAD_UNIPROT_GROUNDINGS · claude
Retracted 1 UniProtKB grounding(s) whose accessions are deleted from UniProt; nodes demoted to label-only pending re-grounding (docs/GROUNDING_POLICY.md)
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GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude
Grounded 1 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (GO:0004457×1).
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MIGRATE_MICROBE_DOMAIN_EDGES · claude
Re-grounded 1 causal edge(s) off microbe-domain METPO predicates (1 to has output), issue 301. The previous predicates are transitively rdfs:subPropertyOf METPO:2000001, whose rdfs:domain is METPO:1000525 (microbe), so a causal-graph subject entailed that the subject IS a microbe; CausalNodeTypeEnum has no organism member, so no such edge could ever satisfy the domain. Edge directions are unchanged - this pass only relabels and re-grounds. RO:0002234 (has output) is used where the subject is an activity, since biolink gives it the domain 'biological process or activity'; the METPO replacements are proposed in proposals/metpo_traitmech_v8 and v9 and are placeholder ids until METPO mints them.
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MIGRATE_MICROBE_DOMAIN_EDGES_PART2 · claude
Re-grounded 2 causal edge(s) off microbe-domain METPO predicates onto their causal-graph counterparts (2 to produces), issue 301 part 2. The previous predicates are transitively rdfs:subPropertyOf METPO:2000001, whose rdfs:domain is METPO:1000525 (microbe), so a causal-graph subject entailed that the subject IS a microbe; CausalNodeTypeEnum has no organism member, so no such edge could ever satisfy the domain. Each replacement is a 1:1 mirror of its source predicate that changes only the domain, so the claim each edge makes is unchanged and directions are unchanged. The replacements are proposed in proposals/metpo_traitmech_v9 and are placeholder ids until METPO mints them.