Innovative Production of Foaming Bacterial Cellulose and Its Potential Applications

抄録

Education:

PhD. Institute of Biotechnology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, May 2017

Professional Experience:

Researcher, Material and Chemical research laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan

Senior researcher fellow, Research and Development, Phalanx Biotech Group, Taiwan.

　Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a nano-scale biomaterial produced from microorganism. Among of BC producing microorganisms, Komagataeibacter xylinus is the most commonly used microorganism due to its high BC production. Compared to plant cellulose, BC presents higher purity without lignin, pectin, or hemicellulose. Owing to its excellent mechanical property, high water content, and biocompatibility, BC has been applied to biomedical dressing, food packaging and cosmetic mask applications. However, its lack of specific biological activities, including antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, limits its broader utility. To address this challenge, we developed an in situ modification strategy using a foaming culture system to produce foaming BC (FBC). Various additives were incorporated into FBC during cultivation to obtain the specific functional FBC. First, chitosan was added to produce chitosan/FBC composites with antimicrobial ability. The chitosan/FBC was found that can significantly inhibit Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli growth by approximately 2 log CFU/mL. Second, agar was used to regulate pore size of FBC, and facilitate the adsorption and controlled release of carvacrol, a bioactive compound with known antimicrobial activity. The release rate of carvacrol was positively correlated with pore size of agar/FBC, enabling sustained microbial inhibition. In food packaging applications, the carvacrol-loaded agar/FBC effectively suppressed the growth of Shewanella putrefaciens and reduced lipid oxidation in fish during storage, demonstrating strong potential as an active packaging material. Last but not least, FBC also served as a superior scaffold for microbial co-culture. Co-cultivation with recombinant E. coli enabled the in situ biosynthesis of violacein-loaded FBC. The violacein/FBC composite exhibited strong metal ion adsorption capacity, particularly for Cu(II), highlighting its potential for use in functional packaging and wastewater treatment. Overall, the FBC production system serves as a modification strategy that enables the in situ incorporation of additives or microorganisms into the cellulose fiber during cultivation. The approach allows for the fabrication of BC materials with specific functionalities. Future work will focus on incorporating a broader range of modifiers to explore the applicability of FBC across different fields.