Honeycomb-like architecture produced by living bacteria, Gluconacetobacter xylinus

Bacterial cellulose (BC)-producing bacterium, Gluconacetobacter xylinus (ATCC53582), was found to move along linear microgrooves of a stripe-patterned cellulosic scaffold. On the basis of this finding, fabrication of honeycomb-patterned BC was attempted by controlling the bacterial movement using a agarose film scaffold with honeycomb-patterned grooves (concave type). The patterned agarose film was prepared by three steps. The first was transcription of a honeycomb-patterned polycaprolactone film template with polydimethyl siloxane. When the bacteria were cultured on the scaffold under atmospheric conditions, only bacterial proliferation was observed. Honeycomb-patterned BC was obtained when cultured under a humid CO₂ atmosphere. Electron diffraction and polarized microscopic observation showed that the patterned BC comprised of the well defined cellulose Iα microfibrils. As another attempt to fabricate honeycomb-patterned BC, the bacteria were cultured on the patterned cellulose and agarose film with convex type of honeycomb. This culture yielded no honeycomb-patterned BC. Therefore, concave type honeycomb scaffold is more suitable to fabricate honeycomb-patterned BC.