Fig. 1.

Fermentation profiles of lactate-utilizing bacteria grown on sugar, on lactate, or a combination of both. (a) Net production (to the right of the figures), or consumption (to the left of the figures) of various short-chain fatty acids by lactate-utilizing bacteria grown on either hexose sugar alone, lactate alone or a combination of both. Cultures were incubated anaerobically for 24 h in media supplemented with 11 mM glucose, 35 mM lactate or both. Glucose was substituted with 11 mM fructose for C. catus GD/7. Iso-butyrate, valerate, iso-valerate, and succinate were not detected in any of the samples. (b) Net consumption or production of l- or d-lactate by the tested strains, with or without simultaneous exposure to hexose sugars in the culture medium. Error bars are the sem of three biological replicates. There was no remaining glucose or fructose in any culture after 24 h, with the exception of A. soehngenii L2-7 (2 mM, SEM 2.0) and SL6/1/1 (6 mM, SEM 3.2) grown with a combination of glucose and lactate. Expanded data are shown in Table S3.