Screening of Bacterial CeRulose - producing

For petential applicfttion in the ecenomic productien of bacterial cellu)ose, cellulose-producing Acetobacter strains capable of using suerose as a carbon source were screened for using corn steep liquor as a nitrogen source. A total of ISOe strains were iso]ated and four were selected through $tatic and shaking fiask eultuves, Much higher cellulose accumulatieii was obseryed im a jar fermentor using these strains in sucre$e-CSL mediuryE than seen using the preyiously isolated strain, BPR2001, in fructose-CSI, medium. It was found that these strains also had high cellu)ose prodiuction from glucose. The pH of the cultures of the iselated strains did not decrease, and it was suggested that these straiies have lo-' glucose-oxidizing ftbillty. tion were seiected, and then finaily evaluated using ajar fermentor (Fig, 2). High leyels of cellulose production were observed with strains 757, 771, and 184, which had been isolated from melon, eherry, and grape, respectively. The amount of accumulated ce1lulose was greater than that observed with BPR2001 cultured in CSL-Frc medium,`) Cellulose production by BPR2001 (used as a control) in a shaking fiask culture was only 1.8 glliter, and the pH in the culture fell to 3.0. It is known that sucrose is first degraded into glucose and fructose (and an appreciable amount of levan, which is a polymcr of fructose) and then metabolized.6) Most Acetobacter