I. Dubois

The paper reports the functional expression of a Mo-dependent formate dehydrogenase in E. coli under aerobic conditions, showing growth on formate as sole energy source and identifying mutations in a formate transporter gene as key to adaptation.

This study shows that adaptive evolution in E. coli can change cofactor specificity of enzymes, enabling NADPH regeneration without external sources, but is limited by thermodynamic constraints.