A strain of Escherichia coli (FMJ144) deficient for pyruvate formate lyase and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was complemented with a genomic DNA library from Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus. One positive cloned showed LDH activity and production of D(-)lactate was demonstrated. The nucleotide sequence of the D-LDH gene (ldhA) revealed the spontaneous insertion of an E. coli insertion sequence IS2 upstream of the gene coding region. The open reading frame encoded a 333-amino acid protein, showing no similarity with known L-LDH sequences but closely related to L. casei D-hydroxyisocaproate dehydrogenase (D-HicDH).