Regulated patterns of bacterial movements based on their secreted cellulose nanofibers interacting interfacially with ordered chitin templates

Gluconacetobacter xylinus, a gram-negative bacterium that synthesizes and extrudes a cellulose nanofiber in SH media moves in random manners, resulting in 3D-network structure of the secreted nanofibers termed a pellicle. In this study, the bacterial movement was successfully regulated to be in a waving manner when cultured on ordered templates made of chitin. Interestingly, by addition of more cellulose into the chitin ordered templates, the waving pattern was getting close to a linear or straight manner. Real time video analysis and other visualization techniques clarified that the regulation of the moving manners was due to the interfacial interaction between the secreted nanofibers and the template surfaces. Furthermore, the changing of the pattern due to the cellulose content in the ordered templates appeared to depend on the magnitude of the interaction between the template and nanofibers. This regulated autonomous deposition of the fibers will build patterned 3D-structure with unique properties on the surface of the templates, leading to a novel type of nanotechnology using biological systems with biomolecular nano-templates to design 3D-structures.