Comparative genomic analysis was performed on eight species of lactic acid bacteria (LAB)- (.) (.) , (.) , and -to assess their glutamic acid production pathways. Glutamic acid is important for umami taste in foods. The only genes for glutamic acid production identified in the eight LAB were for conversion from glutamine in and , and from glucose via citrate in . Thus, was considered to be potentially the best of the species for glutamic acid production. By biochemical analyses, HY7803 was selected for glutamic acid production from among 17 strains. Strain HY7803 produced 83.16 pmol/μl glutamic acid from glucose, and exogenous supplementation of citrate increased this to 108.42 pmol/μl. Including glutamic acid, strain HY7803 produced more of 10 free amino acids than reference strains IL1403 and ATCC 7962 in the presence of exogenous citrate. The differences in the amino acid profiles of the strains were illuminated by principal component analysis. Our results indicate that HY7803 may be a good starter strain for glutamic acid production.