Self-pigmenting textiles grown from cellulose-producing bacteria with engineered tyrosinase expression

Walker, KennethKennethWalkerLi, Ivy ShanIvy ShanLiLee, KoonyangKoonyangLeeEllis, ThomasThomasEllis2024-04-102024-04-102024-04-02Nature Biotechnology, 20241087-0156http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/110548Environmental concerns are driving interest in postpetroleum synthetic textiles produced from microbial and fungal sources. Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a promising sustainable leather alternative, on account of its material properties, low infrastructure needs and biodegradability. However, for alternative textiles like BC to be fully sustainable, alternative ways to dye textiles need to be developed alongside alternative production methods. To address this, we genetically engineer Komagataeibacter rhaeticus to create a bacterial strain that grows self-pigmenting BC. Melanin biosynthesis in the bacteria from recombinant tyrosinase expression achieves dark black coloration robust to material use. Melanated BC production can be scaled up for the construction of prototype fashion products, and we illustrate the potential of combining engineered self-pigmentation with tools from synthetic biology, through the optogenetic patterning of gene expression in cellulose-producing bacteria. With this study, we demonstrate that combining genetic engineering with current and future methods of textile biofabrication has the potential to create a new class of textiles.© The Author(s) 2024. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Self-pigmenting textiles grown from cellulose-producing bacteria with engineered tyrosinase expressionJournal Articlehttps://www.dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02194-3https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-024-02194-3