Production of high crystallinity type‐I cellulose from Komagataeibacter hansenii JR‐02 isolated from Kombucha tea

Abstract

In this study, a bacterial cellulose (BC) producing strain was isolated from Kombucha tea and identified as Komagataeibacter hansenii JR-02 by morphological, physiological, and biochemical characterization and 16S rRNA sequence. Then, the media components and culture conditions for BC production were optimized. Result showed that the highest BC yield was 3.14±0.22 and 8.36±0.19g/L after fermentation for 7 days under shaking and static cultivation, respectively. Moreover, it was interesting that JR-02 could produce BC in nitrogen-free medium with the highest yield of 0.76±0.06g/L/7days, and the possible nitrogen fixation gene nifH was cloned from its genomic DNA. The BC produced by JR-02 was type-I cellulose with high crystallinity and thermodynamic stability, which was revealed from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric analysis methods. The crystallinity of static and shaking cultured BC were 91.76% and 90.69%, respectively. The maximum rate of weight loss of static and shaking BC occurred at temperature of approximately 373.1°C and 369.1°C, respectively. Overall, these results indicated that K. hansenii JR-02 had great potential to produce high crystallinity type-I BC in manufacture.