Co-expression of holin gene improves heterologous cellulase secretion and surface display by lactic acid bacteria Lactococcus cremorisŠtravs, Petra (Avtor) Repar, Lara (Avtor) Fierobe, Henri-Pierre (Avtor) Perret, Stéphanie (Avtor) Berlec, Aleš (Avtor) genetic engineeringlytic proteinsLactococcus cremorisGenetically modified Lactococcus cremoris strains producing heterologous cellulases emerge as promising candidates for cost-effective bioprocessing of plant biowaste into high-value organic compounds. A key challenge in enabling efficient cellulose degradation by L. cremoris remains the effective secretion of heterologous cellulases. A potential solution would be to use genetic engineering to enhance the permeabilization of bacterial cell membrane and cell wall to facilitate the release of cellulases. This could be achieved by the co-expression of cellulase genes with genes encoding the prophage lytic proteins such as holin and endolysin.Springer Nature20262026-02-13 09:21:36Neznano27565Švicasl© The Author(s) 2026.