Microbial conversion of agri-food waste to valuable compounds offers a sustainable route to develop the bioeconomy and contribute to sustainable biorefinery. Clostridium tyrobutyricum displays a series of native traits suitable for high productivity conversion of agri-food waste, which make it a promising host for the production of various compounds, such as the short-chain fatty acids and their derivative esters products. In this study, a butanol synthetic pathway was constructed in C. tyrobutyricum, and then efficient butyl butyrate production through in situ esterification was achieved by the supplementation of lipase into the fermentation. The butyryl-CoA/acyl-CoA transferase (cat1) was overexpressed to balance the ratio between precursors butyrate and butanol. Then, a suitable fermentation medium for butyl butyrate production was obtained with xylose as the sole carbon source and shrimp shell waste as the sole nitrogen source. Ultimately, 5.9 g/L of butyl butyrate with a selectivity of 100%, and a productivity of 0.03 g/L·h was achieved under xylose and shrimp shell waste with batch fermentation in a 5 L bioreactor. Transcriptome analyses exhibited an increase in the expression of genes related to the xylose metabolism, nitrogen metabolism, and amino acid metabolism and transport, which reveal the mechanism for the synergistic utilization of xylose and shrimp shell waste. This study presents a novel approach for utilizing xylose and shrimp shell waste to produce butyl butyrate by using an anaerobic fermentative platform based on C. tyrobutyricum. This innovative fermentation medium could save the cost of nitrogen sources (~97%) and open up possibilities for converting agri-food waste into other high-value products.
Keywords: Clostridium tyrobutyricum; agri-food waste; biorefinery; metabolic engineering; short-chain fatty acid ester.