Impact of hemicelluloses and pectin on sphere-like bacterial cellulose assembly

It has been shown previously that certain strains of the bacterium Gluconacetobacter xylinus produce a spherical form of cellulose where the cellulose was formed in a layered fashion. The spherical cellulose was used as a model system to study cellulose–hemicellulose and cellulose–pectin composite formation. Cultures were produced in the presence of 0.5% (w/v) xyloglucan, xylan, arabinogalactan and pectin under agitating conditions. Cellulose samples with xyloglucan and pectin had different macro structures compared to other culture conditions. The micro structures showed that these two samples formed dense cellulose layers and had fewer cellulose fiber connections between layers. Cellulose samples with xylan and xyloglucan were found to contain more Iβ cellulose as found in higher plants, and exhibited decreases in crystallinity and crystalline sizes according to X-ray diffraction patterns. IR spectroscopy confirmed the changes in crystal allomorph. Cellulose was also grown in cultures containing different blends of both xyloglucan and pectin. Results show that xyloglucan had the dominant impact on the assembly of cellulose, suggesting that xyloglucan and pectin may interact with cellulose at different points in the assembly process, or in different regions. Bacterial cellulose and biomass yields indicated that xyloglucan and pectin could also stimulate the growth of cellulose.