Engineered Escherichia coli for simultaneous utilization of galactose and glucose

► Galactose metabolism in Escherichia coli was re-engineered to co-utilize glucose and galactose. ► The engineered strain showed a 44.8% increase in growth rate in galactose medium. ► This strain could simultaneously utilize glucose and galactose with similar rates. ► This system has enormous potential for broad biorefinery applications.