title: Autonomous bottom-up fabrication of three-dimensional nano/microcellulose honeycomb structures, directed by bacterial nanobuilder.
abstract: We investigated the autonomous bottom-up fabrication of three-dimensional honeycomb cellulose structures, using Gluconacetobacter xylinus as a bacterial nanoengine, on cellulose honeycomb templates prepared by casting water-in-oil emulsions on glass substrates (Kasai and Kondo, Macromol. Biosci., 4, 17-21, 2004). The template film had a unique molecular orientation state along the honeycomb frames, but was non-crystalline. When G. xylinus, used as a nanofiber-producing bacterium, was incubated on the honeycomb scaffold in a culture medium, it secreted cellulose nanofibers only on the upper surface of the honeycomb frame. The movement was regulated by a selective interaction between the synthesized nanofiber and the surface of the honeycomb frames of the template. The relationship between directed deposition of synthesized nanofibers and ordered fabrication from the nano- to the micro-scale could provide a novel bottom-up methodology, using bacteria, for the design of three-dimensional honeycomb structures as functional materials with nano/micro hierarchical structures, with low energy consumption.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences, Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan. Electronic address: tekondo@agr.kyushu-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences, Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan.
authors.forename: Wakako
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kasai
mesh_terms: D002482:Cellulose / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D004655:Emulsions; D041822:Gluconacetobacter xylinus / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D055772:Green Chemistry Technology; D055616:Microtechnology / Q000379:methods*; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D004655:Emulsions; D014867:Water; D002482:Cellulose
keywords: Autonomous fabrication; Bacterial nanoengine; Cellulose; Directed three-dimensional nano/micropatterning; Gluconacetobacter xylinus; Honeycomb scaffold; Nanofiber