Klebsiella oxytoca P2, which has genes from Zymomonas mobilis encoding the alcohol dehydrogenase and pyruvate decarboxylase integrated in its chromosome, fermented 50 g maltose/l to 25.4 g of ethanol/l. It also fermented 10, 20 and 40 g starch/l yielding 4, 8.4, and 17.7 g ethanol/l, respectively, representing 72, 75 and 78% of the theoretical yield.