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Living Composites of Bacteria and Polymers as Biomimetic Films for Metal Sequestration and Bioremediation
Author(s) -
Knierim Christian,
Enzeroth Michaela,
Kaiser Patrick,
Dams Christian,
Nette David,
Seubert Andreas,
Klingl Andreas,
Greenblatt Charles L.,
Jérôme Valérie,
Agarwal Seema,
Freitag Ruth,
Greiner Andreas
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
macromolecular bioscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.924
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1616-5195
pISSN - 1616-5187
DOI - 10.1002/mabi.201400538
Subject(s) - vinyl alcohol , polymer , chemistry , bioremediation , micrococcus luteus , materials science , chemical engineering , bacteria , organic chemistry , biology , engineering , genetics , biochemistry , escherichia coli , gene
Herein, we report on composite materials of biologically active microorganisms placed in a synthetic polymer matrix. These so‐called “living composites” were utilized for gold sequestration ( Micrococcus luteus ) and bioremediation of nitrite ( Nitrobacter winogradskyi ) to demonstrate functionality. For the preparation of the living composites the bacteria were first encased in a water‐soluble polymer fiber (poly(vinyl alcohol), PVA) followed by coating the fibers with a shell of hydrophobic poly(p‐xylylene) (PPX) by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The combination of bacteria with polymer materials assured the stability and biologically activity of the bacteria in an aqueous environment for several weeks.