Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

A microbial process for the production of benzyl acetate

Nature Chemical Engineering volume 1, pages 216–228 (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Benzyl acetate is a valuable aromatic ester compound with diverse applications in the flavor and fragrance industries. However, its current synthesis primarily relies on inefficient plant extraction methods or chemical/enzymatic processes that depend on non-renewable substrates. Here we report a sustainable approach to benzyl acetate production from d-glucose using metabolically engineered Escherichia coli strains. We explored both benzoic acid-dependent and -independent synthetic pathways by either dividing the pathway between upstream and downstream strain pairs or by introducing the complete pathway into single, integrated strains. In an optimized two-phase extractive fermentation process, a delayed co-culture of an upstream strain that converts d-glucose to benzoic acid and a downstream strain that transforms benzoic acid into benzyl acetate yielded 2,238.3 ± 171.9 mg l−1 of benzyl acetate from d-glucose in 108 h (or 2,204.0 ± 192.2 mg l−1 in 96 h). The economic competitiveness of the microbial process for sustainable benzyl acetate production was also assessed by techno-economic analysis.

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Schemes of benzoic acid-dependent and -independent pathways for de novo production of benzyl acetate from d-glucose.
Fig. 2: Production of benzyl acetate through co-culture of upstream and downstream strains harboring the benzoic acid-dependent pathway.
Fig. 3: Production of benzyl acetate through co-culture of upstream and downstream strains harboring the benzoic acid-independent pathway.
Fig. 4: Production of benzyl acetate by the BnAc1–BnAc30 strains harboring the complete benzoic acid-independent pathway.
Fig. 5: Delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains for improved production of benzyl acetate through the benzoic acid-independent pathway.
Fig. 6: Techno-economic analysis of the microbial-based benzyl acetate production process.

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

All source data for figures have been deposited at figshare (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24026634).

Code availability

All codes used for calculating the theoretical maximum flux of benzyl acetate biosynthesis and techno-economic analysis of the microbial-based benzyl acetate production are available at https://github.com/kaistsystemsbiology/BenzylAcetateFluxAnalysis and https://github.com/kaistsystemsbiology/BenzylAcetateTEA.

References

  1. Majumder, A. B., Singh, B., Dutta, D., Sadhukhan, S. & Gupta, M. N. Lipase catalyzed synthesis of benzyl acetate in solvent-free medium using vinyl acetate as acyl donor. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 16, 4041–4044 (2006).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Radnik, J. et al. Deactivation of Pd acetoxylation catalysts: direct observations by XPS investigations. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 44, 6771–6774 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Ahmed, N., Hanani, Y. A., Ansari, S. Y. & Anwar, S. in Essential Oils in Food Preservation, Flavor and Safety (ed Preedy, V. R.) 487–494 (Elsevier, 2016).

  4. Mallavarapu, G., Gurudutt, K. & Syamasundar, K. in Essential Oils in Food Preservation, Flavor and Safety (ed Preedy, V. R.) 865–873 (Elsevier, 2016).

  5. Knudsen, J. T., Tollsten, L. & Bergström, L. G. Floral scents—a checklist of volatile compounds isolated by head-space techniques. Phytochemistry 33, 253–280 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Garlapati, V. K., Kumari, A., Mahapatra, P. & Banerjee, R. Modeling, simulation, and kinetic studies of solvent-free biosynthesis of benzyl acetate. J. Chem. 2013, 451652 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Benhmid, A., Narayana, K. V., Martin, A. & Lucke, B. One-step synthesis of benzyl acetate by gas phase acetoxylation of toluene over highly active and selective Pd-Sb-TiO2 catalysts. Chem. Commun. https://doi.org/10.1039/b406396a (2004).

  8. Komatsu, T., Inaba, K., Uezono, T., Onda, A. & Yashima, T. Nano-size particles of palladium intermetallic compounds as catalysts for oxidative acetoxylation. Appl. Catal. A 251, 315–326 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Nandiwale, K. Y., Galande, N. D., Raut, S. A. & Bokade, V. V. Benzylation of acetic acid to benzyl acetate over highly active and reusable micro/meso-HZSM-5. Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 93, 584–590 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Park, Y. C., Shaffer, C. E. & Bennett, G. N. Microbial formation of esters. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 85, 13–25 (2009).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Luo, Z. W., Cho, J. S. & Lee, S. Y. Microbial production of methyl anthranilate, a grape flavor compound. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 10749–10756 (2019).

    Article  CAS  ADS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Perdomo, I. C. et al. Efficient enzymatic preparation of flavor esters in water. J. Agric. Food Chem. 67, 6517–6522 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Melo, A. D. Q. et al. Synthesis of benzyl acetate catalyzed by lipase immobilized in nontoxic chitosan-polyphosphate beads. Molecules https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules22122165 (2017).

  14. Gómez, J. et al. Biosynthesis of benzyl acetate: optimization of experimental conditions, kinetic modelling and application of alternative methods for parameters determination. Bioresour. Technol. Rep. 11, 100519 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Lee, J. W. & Trinh, C. T. Microbial biosynthesis of lactate esters. Biotechnol. Biofuels 12, 226 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Pugh, S., McKenna, R., Halloum, I. & Nielsen, D. R. Engineering Escherichia coli for renewable benzyl alcohol production. Metab. Eng. Commun. 2, 39–45 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  17. Luo, Z. W. & Lee, S. Y. Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for the production of benzoic acid from glucose. Metab. Eng. 62, 298–311 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Noda, S., Kitazono, E., Tanaka, T., Ogino, C. & Kondo, A. Benzoic acid fermentation from starch and cellulose via a plant-like beta-oxidation pathway in Streptomyces maritimus. Microb. Cell Fact. 11, 49 (2012).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Otto, M., Wynands, B., Marienhagen, J., Blank, L. M. & Wierckx, N. Benzoate synthesis from glucose or glycerol uising engineered Pseudomonas taiwanensis. Biotechnol. J. 15, e2000211 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Venkitasubramanian, P., Daniels, L., Das, S., Lamm, A. S. & Rosazza, J. P. Aldehyde oxidoreductase as a biocatalyst: reductions of vanillic acid. Enzyme Microb. Technol. 42, 130–137 (2008).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Akhtar, M. K., Turner, N. J. & Jones, P. R. Carboxylic acid reductase is a versatile enzyme for the conversion of fatty acids into fuels and chemical commodities. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 87–92 (2013).

    Article  CAS  ADS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Dudareva, N., D’Auria, J. C., Nam, K. H., Raguso, R. A. & Pichersky, E. Acetyl-CoA:benzylalcohol acetyltransferase—an enzyme involved in floral scent production in Clarkia breweri. Plant J 14, 297–304 (1998).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Venkitasubramanian, P., Daniels, L. & Rosazza, J. P. Reduction of carboxylic acids by Nocardia aldehyde oxidoreductase requires a phosphopantetheinylated enzyme. J. Biol. Chem. 282, 478–485 (2007).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Quadri, L. E. et al. Characterization of Sfp, a Bacillus subtilis phosphopantetheinyl transferase for peptidyl carrier protein domains in peptide synthetases. Biochemistry 37, 1585–1595 (1998).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Choi, K. R., Yu, H. E., Lee, H. & Lee, S. Y. Improved production of heme using metabolically engineered Escherichia coli. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 119, 3178–3193 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Choi, K. R., Yu, H. E. & Lee, S. Y. Production of zinc protoporphyrin IX by metabolically engineered Escherichia coli. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 119, 3319–3325 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Bhatia, S. P. et al. Fragrance material review on cinnamyl acetate. Food Chem. Toxicol. 45, S53–S57 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Cortes-Pena, Y., Kumar, D., Singh, V. & Guest, J. S. BioSTEAM: a fast and flexible platform for the design, simulation, and techno-economic analysis of biorefineries under uncertainty. ACS Sustain Chem. Eng. 8, 3302–3310 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Tribe, D. E. Novel microorganism and method. US patent 4,681,852 (1987).

  30. Lee, Y. & Lee, S. Y. Enhanced production of poly (3-hydroxybutyrate) by filamentation-suppressed recombinant Escherichia coli in a defined medium. J. Environ. Polym. Degrad. 4, 131–134 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Sambrook, J. & Russell, D. W. Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 2001).

  32. Datsenko, K. A. & Wanner, B. L. One-step inactivation of chromosomal genes in Escherichia coli K-12 using PCR products. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 97, 6640–6645 (2000).

    Article  CAS  ADS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  33. Zhao, X. R., Choi, K. R. & Lee, S. Y. Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for secretory production of free haem. Nat. Catal. 1, 720–728 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Monk, J. M. et al. iML1515, a knowledgebase that computes Escherichia coli traits. Nat. Biotechnol. 35, 904–908 (2017).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the ‘Bio & Medical Technology Development Program (2021M3A9I4022740)’ of the National Research Foundation and funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT, Republic of Korea (K.R.C., Z.W.L., G.B.K., H.X. and S.Y.L.). This work was also supported by the ‘Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science and Technology Development (Project No. RS-2021-RD009210)’ from the Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea (K.R.C. and Z.W.L.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory and Systems Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea

    Kyeong Rok Choi, Zi Wei Luo, Gi Bae Kim, Hanwen Xu & Sang Yup Lee

  2. BioProcess Engineering Research Center, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

    Kyeong Rok Choi, Zi Wei Luo & Sang Yup Lee

  3. BioInformatics Research Center, KAIST Institute for the BioCentury, and KAIST Institute for Artificial Intelligence, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

    Sang Yup Lee

  4. Graduate School of Engineering Biology, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

    Sang Yup Lee

Authors
  1. Kyeong Rok Choi
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zi Wei Luo
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Gi Bae Kim
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hanwen Xu
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Sang Yup Lee
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

K.R.C. and S.Y.L. conceptualized the project. K.R.C., Z.W.L. and G.B.K. developed the methodology. K.R.C., Z.W.L., G.B.K. and H.X. conducted experiments. K.R.C., Z.W.L., G.B.K. and H.X. analyzed the data. K.R.C., Z.W.L. and G.B.K. performed visualization. K.R.C., Z.W.L. and G.B.K. wrote the original draft. K.R.C. and S.Y.L. reviewed and edited the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sang Yup Lee.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Chemical Engineering thanks Kristina Haslinger and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Two-phase extractive fermentation to overcome benzyl acetate toxicity.

a, The growth curve of E. coli W3110 strain in shake-flask culture supplemented with 0-1.0 g L-1 of benzyl acetate. Solid symbols and error bars represent mean values and standard deviations of biological triplicates (n = 3). Smaller open symbols represent raw data points. b, Scheme of aqueous/organic two-phase extractive culture. Toxic products with high hydrophobicity and partition coefficient, such as benzyl acetate, can be effectively sequestered to droplets of organic solvents. As a result, the concentration of the toxic compounds in the aqueous phase and the cytoplasm decreases, leading to reduction of the toxic effects on microorganisms in the aqueous phase.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Non-averaged profiles of two-phase extractive fermentations.

a and b, Non-averaged profiles of the two-phase extractive fermentation for production of benzyl acetate by the co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains. The averaged profile of these duplicated rounds of fermentations is presented in Fig. 2e. c and d, Non-averaged profiles of the two-phase extractive fermentation for production of benzyl acetate by the co-culture of the BnOH7 and BnOH-BnAc2 strains. The averaged profile of these duplicated rounds of fermentation is presented in Fig. 3d. e and f, Non-averaged profiles of the two-phase extractive fermentation for production of benzyl acetate by the BnAc30 strain. The averaged profile of these duplicated rounds of fermentations are presented in Fig. 4e.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Optimization of medium components to improve the cell density and benzyl acetate titre of the BnAc30 strain.

a, Perturbation of component levels in shake-flask culture of the BnAc30 strain supplemented with increased amount of d-glucose (20 g L-1), thiamine (Thi), l-tyrosine (Tyr), l-phenylalanine (Phe), l-aspartic acid (Asp) and yeast extract (YE) than the standard conditions. Bars and solid symbols represent mean values and error bars represent standard deviations of biological triplicates (n = 3). Smaller open symbols represent raw data points. b, Perturbation of component levels in shake-flask culture of the BnAc30 strain supplemented with 20 g L-1 of d-glucose, as well as replacement of yeast extract with l-leucine (Lue) and l-isoleucine (Ile). Bars and solid symbols represent mean values and error bars represent standard deviations of biological triplicates (n = 3). Smaller open symbols represent raw data points. c, Two-phase extractive fermentation of the BnAc30 strain with supplementation of 6 g L-1 of yeast extract and 0.1 g L-1 of l-tyrosine. Symbols represent raw data points (n = 1). d, Two-phase extractive fermentation of the BnAc30 strain with supplementation of 6 g L-1 of yeast extract and 0.2 g L-1 of l-tyrosine. Symbols represent raw data points (n = 1).

Extended Data Fig. 4 Co-culture of the auxotrophic Bn-BnAc5 strain with the auxotrophic Bn1 strain.

a, Population changes in co-culture of an auxotrophic upstream strain (strain 1) and a prototrophic downstream strain (strain 2). b, Population changes in co-culture of an auxotrophic upstream strain (strain 1) and an auxotrophic downstream strain (strain 2). c, Two-phase extractive fermentation profile for benzyl acetate production by co-culture of the auxotrophic Bn1 strain and the auxotrophic Bn-BnAc5 strain. Symbols represent raw data points (n = 1). d, Scheme of promiscuous conversion of trans-cinnamic acid into cinnamyl acetate in co-culture of an upstream strain (strain 1) and a downstream strain (strain 2) harbouring the benzoic acid-dependent pathway for benzyl acetate production.

Extended Data Fig. 5 Optimization of inoculation delay in delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains (part 1).

a, Two-phase extractive fermentation profile of delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains (n = 1). The Bn-BnAc3 strain inoculum (200 mL; OD600 = 8.5) was added after 36 h of fermentation. b, Apparent average biosynthesis rates of l-phenylalanine (Phe), trans-cinnamic acid (Cin), cinnamyl acetate (CinAc), benzoic acid (Bn), benzaldehyde (BnAl), benzyl alcohol (BnOH) and benzyl acetate (BnAc), calculated based on the changes in titres (panel a) and the molar masses of the compounds. c, Two-phase extractive fermentation profile of delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains (n = 1). The Bn-BnAc3 strain inoculum (200 mL; OD600 = 11.6) was added after 48 h of fermentation. d, Apparent average biosynthesis rates of benzyl acetate, cinnamyl acetate and intermediates between sampling points were calculated based on the changes in the titres (panel c) and the molar masses of the compounds. Symbols represent raw data points and bars represent apparent average biosynthesis rates.

Extended Data Fig. 6 Optimization of inoculation delay in delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains (part 2).

a, Two-phase extractive fermentation profile of delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains (n = 1). The Bn-BnAc3 strain inoculum (200 mL; OD600 = 7.8) was added after 72 h of fermentation. b, Apparent average biosynthesis rates of l-phenylalanine (Phe), trans-cinnamic acid (Cin), cinnamyl acetate (CinAc), benzoic acid (Bn), benzaldehyde (BnAl), benzyl alcohol (BnOH) and benzyl acetate (BnAc), calculated based on the changes in titres (panel a) and the molar masses of the compounds. c, Two-phase extractive fermentation profile of delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains (n = 1). The Bn-BnAc3 strain inoculum (200 mL; OD600 = 9.1) was added after 96 h of fermentation. d, Apparent average biosynthesis rates of benzyl acetate, cinnamyl acetate and intermediates between sampling points were calculated based on the changes in the titres (panel c) and the molar masses of the compounds. Symbols represent raw data points and bars represent apparent average biosynthesis rates.

Extended Data Fig. 7 Non-averaged profiles and average biosynthesis rates for the delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains shown in Fig. 5d.

a, Non-averaged two-phase extractive fermentation profile of delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains (n = 1). The Bn-BnAc3 strain inoculum (400 mL; OD600 = 13.1) was added after 48 h of fermentation. The profiles of d-glucose and organic acids are summarized in Extended Data Fig. 10a. b, Apparent average biosynthesis rates of l-phenylalanine (Phe), trans-cinnamic acid (Cin), cinnamyl acetate (CinAc), benzoic acid (Bn), benzaldehyde (BnAl), benzyl alcohol (BnOH) and benzyl acetate (BnAc), calculated based on the changes in titres (panel a) and the molar masses of the compounds. c, Non-averaged two-phase extractive fermentation profile of delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains (n = 1). The Bn-BnAc3 strain inoculum (400 mL; OD600 = 14.4) was added after 48 h of fermentation. The profiles of d-glucose and organic acids are summarized in Extended Data Fig. 10b. d, Apparent average biosynthesis rates of benzyl acetate, cinnamyl acetate and intermediates between sampling points were calculated based on the changes in the titres (panel c) and the molar masses of the compounds. Symbols represent raw data points and bars represent apparent average biosynthesis rates.

Extended Data Fig. 8 Two-phase extractive fermentation profile and average biosynthesis rates for the delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains with the delayed inoculum volume of 400 mL and inoculation delay of 36 h.

a, Two-phase extractive fermentation profile of delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains (n = 1). The Bn-BnAc3 strain inoculum (400 mL; OD600 = 13.8) was added after 36 h of fermentation. b, Apparent average biosynthesis rates of l-phenylalanine (Phe), trans-cinnamic acid (Cin), cinnamyl acetate (CinAc), benzoic acid (Bn), benzaldehyde (BnAl), benzyl alcohol (BnOH) and benzyl acetate (BnAc), calculated based on the changes in titres (panel a) and the molar masses of the compounds. Symbols represent raw data points and bars represent apparent average biosynthesis rates.

Extended Data Fig. 9 Non-averaged profiles and average biosynthesis rates for the delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains shown in Fig. 5e.

a, Non-averaged two-phase extractive fermentation profile of delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains (n = 1). The Bn-BnAc3 strain inoculum (400 mL; OD600 = 7.6) was added after 48 h of fermentation. The profiles of d-glucose and organic acids are summarized in Extended Data Fig. 10c. b, Apparent average biosynthesis rates of l-phenylalanine (Phe), trans-cinnamic acid (Cin), cinnamyl acetate (CinAc), benzoic acid (Bn), benzaldehyde (BnAl), benzyl alcohol (BnOH) and benzyl acetate (BnAc), calculated based on the changes in titres (panel a) and the molar masses of the compounds. c, Non-averaged two-phase extractive fermentation profile of delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains (n = 1). The Bn-BnAc3 strain inoculum (400 mL; OD600 = 8.0) was added after 48 h of fermentation. The profiles of d-glucose and organic acids are summarized in Extended Data Fig. 10d. d, Apparent average biosynthesis rates of benzyl acetate, cinnamyl acetate and intermediates between sampling points were calculated based on the changes in the titres (panel c) and the molar masses of the compounds. Symbols represent raw data points and bars represent apparent average biosynthesis rates.

Extended Data Fig. 10 Non-averaged d-glucose and organic acid profiles for the delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains shown in Extended Data Figs. 7 and 9.

a, Non-averaged d-glucose and organic acid profiles during the delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains (n = 1) shown in Extended Data Fig. 7a. The Bn-BnAc3 strain inoculum (400 mL; OD600 = 13.1) was added after 48 h of fermentation. b, Non-averaged d-glucose and organic acid profiles for the delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains (n = 1) shown in Extended Data Fig. 7c. The Bn-BnAc3 strain inoculum (400 mL; OD600 = 14.4) was added after 48 h of fermentation. c, Non-averaged d-glucose and organic acid profiles for the delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains (n = 1) shown in Extended Data Fig. 9a. The Bn-BnAc3 strain inoculum (400 mL; OD600 = 7.6) was added after 48 h of fermentation. d, Non-averaged d-glucose and organic acid profiles for the delayed co-culture of the Bn1 and Bn-BnAc3 strains (n = 1) shown in Extended Data Fig. 9c. The Bn-BnAc3 strain inoculum (400 mL; OD600 = 8.0) was added after 48 h of fermentation.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Discussions 1–13, Tables 1–4 and 11–14, and Supplementary Figs. 1 and 2.

Reporting Summary

Supplementary Tables

Supplementary Tables 5–10.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Choi, K.R., Luo, Z.W., Kim, G.B. et al. A microbial process for the production of benzyl acetate. Nat Chem Eng 1, 216–228 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44286-023-00022-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44286-023-00022-0

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Translational Research

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.

Get what matters in translational research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Translational Research