Isolation and Characterization of Cellulose - Producing Bacteria from Local Samples of Iran

Bacterial cellulose is produced by several species of Acetobacter and because of its unique properties; it has advantages over plant cellulose. Today, this biopolymer has numerous applications at many industrial fields. In this research, samples from different sources of Iran were collected and cultivated in an enrichment liquid medium for growth of acetic acid bacteria. After purification the pellicle-forming bacteria were approved for cellulose production by a modified enzymatic hydrolysis approach. Based on cellulose hydrolysis standard curve, 8 isolates were able to produce cellulose. 4B-2 isolate was selected as the best cellulose producer by 11.98 g/l. Morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics of the strain was examined. The 16srRNA gene was amplified using universal eubacteria specific primers. According to sequencing of approximately 1500 bp of 16S rRNA gene and comparing the sequences with existing data in GenBank and BIBI databases, 4B-2 isolate was belonging to the Acetobacter spp. Acetobacter 4B-2 is comparable with other industrial strain and its production is higher than some of them, so it can be used at industrial applications.