Abstract
Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) synthesized by Komagataeibacter hansenii is a polymer that recently gained an attention of tissue engineers, since its features make it a suitable material for scaffolds production. Nevertheless, it is still necessary to modify BNC to improve its properties in order to make it more suitable for biomedical use. One approach to address this issue is to genetically engineer K. hansenii cells towards synthesis of BNC with modified features. One of possible ways to achieve that is to influence the bacterial movement or cell morphology. In this paper, we described for the first time, K. hansenii ATCC 23769 motA+ and motB+ overexpression mutants, which displayed elongated cell phenotype, increased motility, and productivity. Moreover, the mutant cells produced thicker ribbons of cellulose arranged in looser network when compared to the wild-type strain. In this paper, we present a novel development in obtaining BNC membranes with improved properties using genetic engineering tools.
Highlights
Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) synthesized by bacteria from Komagataeibacter genus is one of the most intensively studied biopolymers due to its unique properties such as high mechanical strength, chemical stability, hydrophilicity, crystallinity, and biocompatibility
Modification of bacterial nanocellulose structure has mainly been achieved by chemical or mechanical modifications of the cellulose matrix or via changing culturing conditions, while there are no successful results in changing the BNC architecture using genetic engineering tools (Chanliaud and Gidley 1999; Luo et al 2008; Lee et al 2014)
K. hansenii ATCC 23769 wild-type strain, pTI99, motA+, and motB+ were cultured in 10 mL test tubes containing 5 mL of a SH medium at 30 °C under static conditions for 4 days
Summary
Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) synthesized by bacteria from Komagataeibacter genus is one of the most intensively studied biopolymers due to its unique properties such as high mechanical strength, chemical stability, hydrophilicity, crystallinity, and biocompatibility. BNC is the most abundant renewable organic material produced in the biosphere (Gallegos et al 2016; Ryngajłło et al 2018). Because of these properties, BNC has a wide range of potential biomedical applications, including wound dressings, medical implants, drug delivery, vascular grafts, and scaffolds for tissue engineering One of the recent approaches aiming to change the morphology of BNC involves the regulation of bacterial cell movement, by using different types of electromagnetic fields (Sano et al 2010; Baah-Dwomoh et al 2015; Fijałkowski et al 2015). Genetic engineering remains a promising approach to enable a fine control over nanocellulose synthesis towards production of diverse BNC-based biomaterials
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
