Abstract

Nicotine, a toxic and addictive alkaloid from tobacco, is an environmental pollutant. However, nicotine-degrading bacteria (NDB) and their function in tobacco planting soil are not fully understood. First, 52 NDB strains belonging to seven genera were isolated from tobacco soil. The most dominant genera were Flavobacterium (36.5%), Pseudomonas (30.8%), and Arthrobacter (15.4%), and Chitinophaga and Flavobacterium have not been previously reported. Then, two efficient NDB strains, Arthrobacter nitrophenolicus ND6 and Stenotrophomonas geniculata ND16, were screened and inoculated in the compost fertilizer from tobacco waste. The nicotine concentrations were reduced from 1.5 mg/g (DW) to below the safety threshold of 0.5 mg/g. Furthermore, strain ND6 followed the pyridine pathway of nicotine degradation, but the degrading pathway in strain ND16 could not be determined according to genomic analysis and color change. Finally, the abundance of nicotine-degrading genes in tobacco rhizosphere soil was investigated via metagenomic analysis. Five key genes, ndhA, nctB, kdhL, nboR, and dhponh, represent the whole process of nicotine degradation, and their abundance positively correlated with soil nicotine concentrations (p < 0.05). In conclusion, various NDB including unknown species live in tobacco soil and degrade nicotine efficiently. Some key nicotine-degrading genes could be used in monitoring nicotine degradation in the environment. The fermentation of compost from tobacco waste is a promising application of efficient NDB.

Highlights

Chitinophaga spp. and Flavobacterium spp. were first confirmed as NDB.

52 NDB strains from seven genera were isolated from tobacco rhizosphere soil.

Strains ND6 and ND16 efficiently degraded nicotine in medium and tobacco waste compost.

ND16 may have a new nicotine-degrading pathway by phenotype and genome analysis.

Abundance of five nicotine-degrading genes in soil correlated well with nicotine concentrations.

Details

Title
Cultivation and application of nicotine-degrading bacteria and environmental functioning in tobacco planting soil
Author
Wang, Yiting 1 ; Luo, Xiangyan 1 ; Chu, Peng 1 ; Shi, Heli 2 ; Wang, Rui 2 ; Li, Jiale 1 ; Zheng, Shixue 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

1  Huazhong Agricultural University, State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Life Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China (GRID:grid.35155.37) (ISNI:0000 0004 1790 4137) 
2  Hubei Tobacco Company, Enshi Branch, Enshi, People’s Republic of China (GRID:grid.35155.37) 
Pages
10
Publication year
2023
Publication date
Dec 2023
Publisher
Springer Nature B.V.
e-ISSN
21974365
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40643-023-00630-x
ProQuest document ID
2890354217
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2023. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.