Bacterial Cellulose as a Substrate for Microbial Cell Culture

Bacterial cellulose (BC) has a range of structural and physicochemical properties that make it a particularly useful material for the culture of bacteria. We studied the growth of 14 genera of bacteria on BC substrates produced by Acetobacter xylinum and compared the results to growth on the commercially available biopolymers agar, gellan, and xanthan. We demonstrate that BC produces rates of bacterial cell growth that typically exceed those on the commercial biopolymers and yields cultures with higher titers of cells at stationary phase. The morphology of the cells did not change during growth on BC. The rates of nutrient diffusion in BC being higher than those in other biopolymers is likely a primary factor that leads to higher growth rates. Collectively, our results suggest that the use of BC may open new avenues in microbiology by facilitating bacterial cell culture and isolation.