Evaluation of Acetobacter Strain for the Production of Microbial Cellulose

Polysaccharides are a structurally diverse group of biological macromolecules of widespread occurrence in nature. The production of biopolymers through biotechnological means attracted the keen attention of researchers due to wide range of their applications. Microbial cellulose is homopolysaccharide having wide industrial applications and it could be Biotechnology's next high-value product. Microfibrilar structure of microbial cellulose is responsible for most of its properties such as high tensile strength, higher degree of polymerization and high crystallinity index. Fibrils of bacterial cellulose are about several times thinner than that of plant cellulose making it a highly porous material, which allows transfer of antibiotics or other medicines into the wound while at the same time serving as an efficient physical barrier against any external infection. It is therefore used extensively in wound healing. It is produced by a variety of organisms ranging from unicellular and multicellular. However, there are several genera of bacteria including Agrobacterium, Rhizobium, Psuedomonas, Sarcina and Acetobacter known to synthesize cellulose. This paper is focused on evaluation of Acetobacter aceti the production of microbial cellulose.