Integrated microbial co-culture engineering for sustainable valorization of tobacco waste
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1
Technology Center, Shanghai Tobacco Group Co., Ltd., Shanghai 201315, China
2
Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
These authors had equal contribution to this work
Corresponding author
Jiale Wang
Technology Center, Shanghai Tobacco Group Co., Ltd., Shanghai 201315, China
J. Ecol. Eng. 2026; 27(1)
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ABSTRACT
In this study, we developed an integrated microbial co-culture system involving Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Arthrobacter nicotinovorans, and the engineered Escherichia coli for the multi-metabolic conversion of tobacco waste biomass and simultaneous degradation of nicotine. The co-culture system aims to achieve efficient ethanol synthesis, nicotine degradation, and linalool production. A. nicotinovorans exhibited strong nicotine degradation capability, removing nearly all nicotine from 50 g/L tobacco hydrolysate within 96 h, while S. cerevisiae achieved up to 13.8 g/L ethanol production in the presence of 50 g/L tobacco hydrolysate with exogenous glucose. Besides, the engineered E. coli demonstrated the capacity to produce linalool, yielding a titer of 0.65 g/L in 50 g/L tobacco hydrolysate with exogenous glycerol. Co-fermentation of these three strains at a 1:3:1 ratio enabled efficient multi-pathway conversion, achieving 0.17 g/L linalool production, 8.3 g/L ethanol, and near-complete nicotine degradation at 10 g/L tobacco hydrolysate, highlighting the impact of inoculation ratio and substrate concentration on metabolic performance. The co-culture system enabled efficient sugar utilization, effective nicotine detoxification, and the production of valuable chemicals, presenting a sustainable strategy for the comprehensive valorization of tobacco waste.