Microbially-fabricated cellulose microstrands in the core of hydrogel fibers

This paper describes rapid fabrication of bacterial cellulose (BC) microfibers using cellulose producing bacteria, Acetobacter xylinum. We successfully fabricated BC microfibers (100-200 μm in diameter) consists of cellulose nanofibrils by sealing and culturing A. xylinum within the core of the hydrogel fiber. The BC microfibers were formed within 24 - 48 hours after the fabrication. This process is remarkably fast considering the conventional method takes 3-7 days to obtain BC scaffolds. The cellulosic biofilm retain its structure even after removal of the shell. We found that the our microfibers have high potential as micro-scaffolds for making “cell tube”.