Work by TMO has successfully established the growth requirements for the wild-type ethanologen and reproducible growth and product formation has been achieved. A stable lactate dehydrogenase deficient (LDH-) strain has been developed and shown to produce ethanol at an elevated level - demonstrating that the elimination of lactate production is essential for high ethanol productivity. Significantly, the LDH-phenotype is stable and not reliant on antibiotic selection - the organism is routinely cultured continuously for extended periods (>1000 hours), with the longest culture period being nearly 4000 hours (6 months) with no reversion to lactate production. In addition, a number of novel thermophilic strains, isolated from environmental samples, have been examined for ethanol production when grown on glucose, xylose or sucrose. A number of candidate ethanologens have been identified and will be characterised further. Finally, the fermentation capability of the LDH-organism or wheat straw hydrolysate - a significant lignocellulosic feedstock - has been successfully demonstrated in both continuous and batch fermentations, indeed ethanol production has been shown on pilot scale. A full data file supporting this summary report is available on request.