Overview
- Reporting in Trends in Biotechnology, the KAIST team showed engineered microbes produced bacterial cellulose sheets across purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red.
- The color palette came from two pigment families: violaceins for cool tones and carotenoids for warm hues.
- Initial co-cultures failed because Komagataeibacter xylinus and Escherichia coli hindered each other, prompting a delayed co-culture for violaceins and a sequential cellulose-then-soak process for carotenoids.
- Durability testing indicated strong colorfastness under washing, bleaching, and heating, with violacein-dyed samples outperforming a synthetic dye in washing trials.
- Researchers present the approach as a greener alternative to petrochemical fibers and dyes but estimate at least five years to market due to scale-up, cost, and adoption hurdles.