Engineering Acetobacter using Synthetic Biology to improve its industrial properties

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Bacterial cellulose is an ultra-pure carbohydrate polymer which has a myriad of useful properties. Due to its purity it has a highly crystalline structure and a high tensile strength, in addition to water holding potential. Therefore, it is of great interest to the biotechnology industry as it provides a unique material that can be used in a range of applications from filtration membranes to medical devices. It's is mainly functionalised using chemical or enzymatic processed however we set out to functionalise bacterial cellulose using Synthetic Biology to engineer the metabolism of K. rhaeticus, an organism from the Acetobacter family, using the KTK Golden Gate toolkit. During the growth of K. rhaeticus it forms a cellulose pellicle as its biofilm. We aim to engineer the metabolism of K. rhaeticus to control cellulose production. In addition, we wish to functionalise the pellicle giving it properties that can be used in many applications. We also endeavour to set up communities with K. rhaeticus and yeast to functionalise the pellicle by secreting proteins such as cellulose-binding-domains (CBDs) hybrid proteins to attach onto the cellulose while maintain the initial proteins abilities. Not only altering the morphology of the cellulose pellicle but also giving it a reactive function. The engineering of cellulose to provide it new abilities, tensile strength and crystallinity is the core of this project.