Green route to synthesis of valuable chemical 6-hydroxynicotine from nicotine in tobacco wastes using genetically engineered Agrobacterium tumefaciens S33.

We successfully developed a novel biocatalytic route to 6-hydroxynicotine from nicotine by blocking the nicotine catabolic pathway via gene disruption, which provides an alternative green strategy to utilize tobacco and its wastes as a biomass resource by converting nicotine into valuable hydroxylated-pyridine compounds.