Abstract: A method of isolating a lactic acid bacterial DNA fragment comprising a promoter, the method comprising introducing a DNA molecule comprising a transposable element comprising a promoterless structural gene as a promoter probe gene into a population of a lactic acid bacterium, methods of constructing a recombinant lactic acid bacterium comprising a regulatable promoter by using the above method, a recombinant lactic acid bacterium comprising a gene coding for a desired gene product and operably linked thereto a regulatable lactic acid bacterial promoter not natively associated with the gene, the use of such a recombinant lactic acid bacterium and recombinant plasmids comprising a regulatable lactic acid bacterial promoter.