Engineering the bacterial cellulose producer K. rhaeticus iGEM to create new cellulose materials

细菌纤维素是一种超纯的碳水化合物聚合物，具有很高的抗张强度和持水性。合成生物学具有改造细菌的潜力，细菌产生纤维素，为实际应用创造具有不同功能特征的新生物聚合物。细菌纤维素最有效的生产者之一是革兰氏阴性细菌Komagataeibacter rhaeticus(K.rhaeticus IGEM)，它是从康普茶SCOBY中分离出来的。过去对这种细菌的研究导致了K.rhaeticus合成生物学工具包v1.0的开发，它提供了用AHL等信号分子调节纤维素生产的基本工具。我们希望对这个工具箱进行扩展，以提供调节纤维素生产的替代方法，以及提供改变细菌纤维素的形态、空间排列和功能性质的方法。我们计划在工具箱中增加基于CRISPR/Cas9的基因组修饰、CRISPRi基因调控和跨膜光受体蛋白传感器。这将允许对纤维素合成进行精确控制。随着工具包的扩展，我们计划使用这些工具来改变细菌纤维素的性质，并创造出图案化和功能化的复合材料。

Bacterial cellulose is an ultra-pure carbohydrate polymer, which is biocompatible with a high tensile strength and water holding potential. Synthetic biology holds the potential to engineer the bacteria, which produce cellulose to create new biopolymers with different functional characteristics for practical applications. One of the most efficient producers of bacterial cellulose is the Gram-negative bacterium Komagataeibacter rhaeticus (k. rhaeticus IGEM), isolated from a kombucha tea SCOBY. Past work on this bacterium led to the development of the K. rhaeticus synthetic biology toolkit v1.0, which provided the basic tools to regulate cellulose production with signal molecules such as AHL. We hope to expand upon this tool kit to provide alternative methods of regulating cellulose production, as well as providing methods to alter the morphology, spatial arrangement and functional properties of bacterial cellulose. We plan to add to the toolkit, CRISPR/Cas9 based genomic modification; CRISPRi gene regulation and trans-membrane photoreceptor proteins sensors. These will allow for the precise control of cellulose synthesis. Following the expansion of the toolkit, we plan to use these tools to alter the properties of bacterial cellulose and create patterned and functionalised composite materials.