E-Poster Presentation Australian Society for Microbiology Annual Scientific Meeting 2021

Isolation of Gluconacteobacter sp. that Produce Bacterial Cellulose for Biomedical Applications. (#352)

Shriya Henry 1 , Steven J Langford 1 , Vito Butardo 1
  1. Department of chemistry and biotechnology, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia

Cellulose is one of the largest renewable bio-polymers found in nature. A commonly used source to obtain cellulose is through plants, but it can also be synthesized by aerobic bacteria, including species of Acetobacter, Rhizobium, Agrobacterium, and Sarcina. Cellulose produced from bacteria is the purest form of cellulose, as it is devoid of impurities like hemicellulose and pectin.It has unique physio-chemical properties such as high water absorption ability, bio-compatible, biodegradable, high crystallinity, high nano-porosity and mechanical strength.2 Due to its tremendous commercial applications, bacteria -derived cellulose (BC) has a huge market demand in areas including the biomedical industry, drug development, electronic and food industry.1 Importantly, the use of renewable natural sources such as industrial waste from food and agriculture to substitute the standard media used for BC production offers a less expensive and more sustainable alternative.3 In this research, BC-producing bacteria from decaying fruits, vegetables and vinegar were isolated.4 The bacterial isolates were visually screened based on pellicle formation in HS media. Interesting isolates which consistently produce bacterial pellicle were purified. The isolate is a gram-negative bacteria with ellipsoidal to rod-shaped cells. Biochemical tests of this isolate showed that it is oxidase negative, catalase-positive, Vogues-Proskauer, urease and indole negative, glucose, xylose and sorbitol positive. Sequencing of 16S revealed that the isolate has a high sequence similarity of 99% with Gluconacetobacter entanii strain LTH4560. The lab-scale production of BC was carried out with static and agitated cultivation methods. Results revealed that high cell density is observed using an agitated cultivation method, while higher amounts of BC were produced using a static cultivation method. This isolate will be used to produce BC in the lab for biomedical applications.

  1. Shah, N, Ul-Islam, M, Khattak, WA & Park, JK 2013, ‘Overview of bacterial cellulose composites: A multipurpose advanced material’, Carbohydrate Polymers, vol. 98, no. 2, Elsevier Ltd., pp. 1585–1598, viewed .
  2. Trovatti, E 2013, ‘Bacterial Cellulose’, pp. 339–365.
  3. HUSSAIN, Z., SAJJAD, W., KHAN, T. & WAHID, F. 2019. Production of bacterial cellulose from industrial wastes: a review. Cellulose, 26, 2895-2911.
  4. Zhang, H, Xu, X, Chen, X, Yuan, F, Sun, B & Xu, Y 2017, ‘Complete genome sequence of the cellulose-producing strain Komagataeibacter nataicola RZS01’, Springer US, pp. 1–8.