Abstract
Gluconacetobacter xylinus produces extracellularly cellulose under aerobic conditions. The formed bacterial cellulose has gained much attention as temporary substitute for human skin, artificial blood vessels applicable in microsurgery or new material for cartilage replacement. Therefore, it is important to preserve the chosen bacteria strain to guarantee reproducibility of the work as well as to shorten the preparation time. In the present paper freezing in suspension using glycerol, DMSO and skim milk as protective agents and drying in gelatine drops were evaluated. A useful preserving method should provide high survival rates of G. xylinus and should have no influence on the cellulose formation. As it is known that addition of substances can have significant effects on formation and structure of bacterial cellulose produced by G. xylinus, the effect of the protective agents and of the storage time on these parameters was studied here. The use of glycerol and skim milk as protective agents for freezing was considered as not recommendable as both altered the structure of cellulose produced by G. xylinus and showed influence on the bacterial metabolism. Freezing in suspension with DMSO proved best in our investigations. DMSO guaranteed high survival rates and had no determinable influence on the structure of the formed bacterial cellulose. Drying of the bacteria cells in gelatine drops had no effect on the morphological structure and kinetic parameters but showed a very low survival rate.
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Wiegand, C., Klemm, D. Influence of protective agents for preservation of Gluconacetobacter xylinus on its cellulose production. Cellulose 13, 485–492 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-005-9022-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-005-9022-3