Improved acid tolerance of Lactobacillus pentosus by error-prone whole genome amplification

► Application of whole genome shuffling to improve acid tolerance of Lactobacillus pentosus. ► Improved acid tolerance of Lactobacillus pentosus making it feasible to ferment at pH 3.8. ► Acid tolerance of the mutant MT3 remained genetically stable for at least 25 subcultures.