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Chitin, chitosan and bacterial cellulose for textiles 305

xylinum. Although the amounts of cellulose produced by these bacteria
were signifi cantly smaller than that from Acetobacter xylinum, they exhibit
a faster growth rate. As it is believed that the cellulose synthetic genes of
all these bacteria are similar, genetic modifi cation of Acetobacter xylinum,
in order to increase its growth rate is expected to have a direct effect on
the bacterial cellulose production time.

12.7 Sources of further information and advice

Numerous articles and books dealing with chitin, chitosan and bacterial
cellulose have been published over the past few years. Biopolymers, Journal
of Applied Polymer Science, Journal of Biomedical Materials Research,
Polymers for Advanced Technologies, Biotechnology & Bioengineering, Cel-
lulose, Polymer Bulletin, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, and
Bioresource Technology are some of the journals devoted to the dissemina-

tion of research and scientific and technological progress in the fi eld of
biopolymers. Advances in Chitin Science is a series of chitin proceedings
books initiated in 1996 following the 1st International Conference of the
European Chitin Society, and since then 10 volumes have been published.
Extensive research in chitin and chitosan chemistry and application has
been carried out by Professor Muzzarelli from University of Ancona, Italy
(Muzzarelli and Muzzarelli, 2002; Muzzarelli et al., 1998, 2005; Muzzarelli,
1994). The main focus on the science and technology of marine polysac-
charides, in particular chitosan chemistry and applications, has been defi ned
by the research group of Professor Vårum from the Norwegian University
of Science and Technology (www.biotech.ntnu.no/nobipol). There have
been many studies in the area of bacterial cellulose research, since the
discovery in 1886 of the cellulose-producing activity of Bacterium xylinum
by Adrian J. Brown. The production of cellulose by this Gram-negative
bacterium has long been regarded as an archetype for the study of cellulose
biogenesis. A number of excellent review articles have been published to
provide detailed information of cellulose biosynthesis (Brown and Saxena,

2000; Kimura and Kondo, 2002; Ross et al., 1991). The first breakthrough in
this area came from the purifi cation of Acetobacter cellulose synthase from
the Professor Malcolm Brown’s research group in 1989. Since this impor-

tant finding, successful research in bacterial cellulose has been carried out
in Brown’s laboratory at The University of Texas, USA. Further information
about the work of this group on bacterial cellulose biosynthesis, production
and applications can be found at www.botany.utexas.edu/mbrown. In recent
years, the University of Jena, Germany (www.polymet-jena.de) and the
Virginia Tech Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering
(www.sbes.vt.edu), USA have been active in bacterial cellulose develop-

ment, e.g. of nanocellulose hollow filaments for medical applications such

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