Exploring cellular fatty acid composition and intracellular metabolites of osmotic-tolerant mutant Lactobacillus paracasei NCBIO-M2 for highly efficient lactic acid production with high initial glucose concentration

•An osmotic-tolerant mutant was obtained by high-throughput screening technology.•Fatty acid composition and intermediates contributed to improve osmotic tolerance.•248 g/L glucose was totally consumed by neutralizing agent combination strategy.•223.7 g/L lactic acid was produced with an overall productivity of 5.53 g/L/h.•Open fermentation was carried out for highly efficient lactic acid production. High titer, productivity and yield are the main pre-requisites of an efficient lactic acid production process. However, the hyperosmotic stress inhibits cell metabolism in the later phase of fermentation. In this study, an osmotic-tolerant mutant named Lactobacillus paracasei NCBIO01-M2 was obtained through a high-throughput screening technology, which exhibited a higher tolerance to osmotic stress due to its more flexible regulation of the unsaturated fatty acid proportion along with the intracellular compatible solute pools. The mutant successfully consumed all 248 g/L initial glucose and produced 223.7 g/L lactic acid with a productivity of 5.53 g/L/h in a single batch fermentation by the neutralizing agent strategy. Moreover, similar fermentation performances were also achieved in the open fermentation mode without sterilization by the mutant, which suggested that the mutant would be a potential for cost-effective commercial lactic acid production.