{"id":170958,"date":"2025-11-28T07:29:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T06:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=170958"},"modified":"2025-11-25T12:53:54","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T11:53:54","slug":"a-kaist-team-develops-the-worlds-first-modular-co-culture-platform-for-the-one-pot-production-of-rainbow-colored-bacterial-cellulose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/a-kaist-team-develops-the-worlds-first-modular-co-culture-platform-for-the-one-pot-production-of-rainbow-colored-bacterial-cellulose\/","title":{"rendered":"A KAIST team develops the world’s first modular co-culture platform for the one-pot production of rainbow-colored bacterial cellulose"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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(From Left) Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee, Ph.D candidate Pingxin Lin, Ph.D candiate Zhou Hengrui \u00a9 KAIST<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The integration of systems metabolic engineering with co-culture strategies that couples bacterial cellulose production with natural colorant biosynthesis enabled the one-pot generation of\u00a0rainbow-colored bacterial cellulose, establishing a sustainable biomanufacturing platform that can replace petroleum-based textiles and eliminate chemical dyeing processes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A research group at KAIST has successfully\u00a0developed\u00a0a\u00a0<\/a>modular co-culture platform\u00a0for the one-pot production of rainbow-colored bacterial cellulose.\u00a0The team, led by Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering,\u00a0engineered Komagataeibacter\u00a0xylinus<\/em> for bacterial cellulose synthesis and Escherichia coli<\/em> for natural colorants overproduction. A co-culture of these engineered strains enabled the in situ coloration of bacterial cellulose. This research offers a versatile platform for producing living materials in multiple colors, and provides new opportunities for sustainable textiles, wearable biomaterials, and functional living materials that combine optical and structural properties beyond the reach of conventional textile technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bacterial cellulose is an attractrive and\u00a0biodegradable alternative to petroleum-derived fabrics\u00a0due toits high purity, mechanical strength, and water-retention properties. However, the limited color range of bacterial cellulose, which is typically white, has\u00a0limited\u00a0its broader application in the textile industry, where more vibrant colored fabrics are increasingly desired.\u00a0Conventional dyeing methods rely on petroleum-based colorants and toxic reagents, creating environmental and processing challenges.\u00a0These challenges have driven the demand for alternative production methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To address these issues, KAIST researchers, including Ph.D. Candidate Hengrui Zhou, Ph.D. Candidate Pingxin Lin, Professor Ki Jun Jeong, and Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee, combined systems metabolic engineering with co-culture strategies to develop a bio-based route that integrates bacterial cellulose formation with natural pigment synthesis, enabling the production of colored living materials in a single step without additional chemical processing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team\u2019s work, entitled \u201cOne-pot production of colored bacterial cellulose,\u201d was\u00a0published\u00a0in\u00a0Trends in Biotechnology<\/em>\u00a0on November 12, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This research details the one-pot production of multicolored bacterial cellulose using a modular co-culture platform that integrates a\u00a0bacterial cellulose-overproducing K.\u00a0xylinus<\/em>\u00a0strain with natural\u00a0colorant-producing E.\u00a0coli\u00a0strains. The team focused on addressing the limitations in\u00a0bacterial cellulose\u00a0coloration caused by environmental challenges and complex processing requirements. By\u00a0employing vesicle engineering and optimizing\u00a0co-culture parameters, the researchers achieved\u00a0one-pot\u00a0production of red, orange, yellow,\u00a0green, blue, navy,\u00a0and\u00a0purple\u00a0bacterial cellulose, eliminating the need for external dyes and toxic chemical treatments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To enhance dyeing efficiency, E. coli strains were engineered for the overproduction and secretion of natural colorants. It was determined that the intracellular accumulation of these pigments disrupts cellular metabolism and physiology, thereby inhibiting their production. To overcome this limitation, vesicle engineering has emerged as a key strategy to mitigate these cytotoxic effects, including the induction of inner- and outer-membrane vesicles and the modulation of cell morphology, enabling the more efficient secretion of colorants and increased overall production. The engineered E. colistrains were optimized in fed-batch fermentation, achieving record-breaking production of 16.92 \u00b1 0.10 g\/L of deoxyviolacein, 8.09 \u00b1 0.17 g\/L of violacein, 1.82 \u00b1 0.07 g\/L of proviolacein, and 936.25 \u00b1 9.70 mg\/L of prodeoxyviolacein, the highest reported titers to date for all four violacein derivatives. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Rainbow-colored
Figure 1. Rainbow-colored bacterial cellulose (microbial fiber) with applied color \u00a9 KAIST<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

A co-culture platform combining the K. xylinus with E. coli strains was further developed and optimized, enabling the in situ one-pot coloration of bacterial cellulose in vibrant green, blue, navy, and purple. Fed-batch fermentation further improved the performance of the platform, achieving the world-first one-pot production of multicolored bacterial cellulose on a larger scale. To expand the bacterial cellulose color palette, engineered carotenoid-producing E. coli strains were incorporated, enabling the successful synthesis of red, orange, and yellow bacterial cellulose. This milestone demonstrates the potential of microbial fermentation as a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based textile processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe can anticipate that this microbial cell factory-based\u00a0one-pot\u00a0production of\u00a0rainbow-colored bacterial cellulose\u00a0has the potential to replace current petroleum-based textile processes,\u201d said Ph.D. Candidate\u00a0Hengrui Zhou<\/strong>. \u201cThe\u00a0systems\u00a0metabolic engineering strategies developed in this study could be broadly applied for the production of\u00a0diverse\u00a0sustainable textiles, wearable biomaterials, and functional living materials that combine optical and structural properties beyond the capabilities of conventional textile technologies.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0He<\/strong> added,\u00a0\u201cThis platform reduces the environmental impact while greatly expanding design possibilities. Beyond serving as a proof-of-concept, this technology offers a promising route toward scalable, eco-friendly fabrics with in situ coloration. Its modular design allows the incorporation of diverse natural colorant pathways, enabling the creation of living materials in multiple colors.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n

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\"Schematic
Figure 2. Schematic of a microbe-based platform for one-step production of rainbow-colored bacterial cellulose <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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\u201cAs demand for sustainable textiles and living materials continues to grow, we expect that the integrated biomanufacturing platform developed here will play a pivotal role in producing\u00a0diversefunctional biomaterials\u00a0with additional design possibilities in a single step,\u00a0without additional chemical processing,\u201d explained Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This work was supported by the Development of Next-generation Biorefinery Platform Technologies for Leading Bio-based Chemicals Industry project (2022M3J5A1056072) and the Development of Platform Technologies of Microbial Cell Factories for the Next-generation Biorefineries project (2022M3J5A1056117) from the National Research Foundation supported by the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Source<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Hengrui Zhou\u00a0(1st<\/sup>),\u00a0Pingxin Lin\u00a0(2nd<\/sup>),\u00a0Ki Jun Jeong\u00a0(3rd<\/sup>),\u00a0and Sang Yup Lee (Corresponding). \u201cOne-pot production of colored bacterial cellulose\u201d.\u00a0Trends in Biotechnology\u00a0(Published)<\/em> doi:10.1016\/j.tibtech.2025.09.019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The integration of systems metabolic engineering with co-culture strategies that couples bacterial cellulose production with natural colorant biosynthesis enabled the one-pot generation of\u00a0rainbow-colored bacterial cellulose, establishing a sustainable biomanufacturing platform that can replace petroleum-based textiles and eliminate chemical dyeing processes. A research group at KAIST has successfully\u00a0developed\u00a0a\u00a0modular co-culture platform\u00a0for the one-pot production of rainbow-colored bacterial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":170975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":" This research offers a versatile platform for producing living materials in multiple colors, and provides new opportunities for sustainable textiles, wearable biomaterials, and functional living materials","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[25843,8793,23812,26985,12782,12468],"supplier":[22375,27283,27284,26185],"class_list":["post-170958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-bacterialcellulose","tag-biomaterials","tag-cellulosefibers","tag-colorants","tag-colors","tag-textiles","supplier-korea-advanced-institute-of-science-and-technology-kaist","supplier-korean-ministry-of-science-and-ict","supplier-ministry-of-science-and-ictkorea","supplier-national-research-foundation-of-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170958"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=170958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}