acetobacter xylinum??

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Nico B.

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May 26, 2016, 7:49:13 PM5/26/16
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Does anyone have access to Acetobacter xylinum, the strain notorious for bacterial cellulose production? wanting to play around with this: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10439-010-9999-0 to make some science fashion with some designer friends. 

Many thanks! willing to pay shipping for a plate or liquid culture if you're local to Ca, USA! 

Best,
Nico

Cathal (Phone)

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May 27, 2016, 2:20:05 AM5/27/16
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Hint: these days it's reclassified as Gluconacetobacter. :)

And.. I used to have some I isolated from a Kombucha mother/scoby, and I have the protocol somewhere for that isolation. Will try to dig it up.
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Michael Hogan

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Jun 14, 2016, 6:28:29 AM6/14/16
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Yes, use kombucha .. easy get "babies" from anyone who keeps kombucha cultures. If you have any hippie friends, they should be able to hook you up. Or try etsy .. there are usually a few kombucha vendors there.

In principle, it should even be possible to start a culture from any bottle of unpasteurized kombucha.

Patrik D'haeseleer

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Jun 15, 2016, 2:18:36 AM6/15/16
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Just don't use any commercial bought kombucha bottles. Hardly any of those actually use G. xylinum. Check the label - they should say which bacteria they're using.

Patrik

Pieter

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Jun 15, 2016, 3:22:49 AM6/15/16
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Here is medium recipe that we used: https://biohackacademy.github.io/bha3/annex/cultivation-media/acetobacter-medium/

In the SCOBY mother check for thick spots of cellulose. These often contain over producing strains. You can also select a bit on the plates.

BraveScience

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Jun 16, 2016, 4:44:14 AM6/16/16
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Checked the recipe. Addition of Calcium carbonate allows for "easy" identification of acetogenic bacteria.
Growth leads to excretion of acetic acid, with following medium acidification, releasing the carbonate from the calcium and forming "halos" around the bacteria.
No need for it if you have already isolated cultures.

Alcohol should be added as last, possibly filtered. A next step of boiling/cooking would just release it. 
It works as fast food for G. xylinus, inducing cellulose production.

If you are interested in the biomaterial itself I'd strongly suggest to exchange glucose for glycerol.
As it is not fermentable yeast won't be able to produce gas and disrupt biofilm formation.

For isolation you could just use ethanol as carbon source.

Best,
Fede

John MacBride

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Jul 14, 2016, 11:24:54 PM7/14/16
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You can also order from Gunther Frank at www.kombucha.de (recommended from Suzanne Lee). My SCOBY produced well, maybe a bit thin.
I had much better success tracking down a kombucha brewer in my city and getting a SCOBY from her, growing it on black tea and sugar. Fantastic growth, though you may want a more controllable medium for your exps.

Thanks for the article reference, oriented biocellulose would be so cool. I'm gonna let the Growing Materials group over on Google+ know (also a good resource for biocellulose enthusiasts)

Cheers

Nico Bouchard

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Jul 15, 2016, 6:49:59 PM7/15/16
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Could you send me a link to the growing materials group? Would love to join the discussion!!

Thanks
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John MacBride

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Jul 16, 2016, 10:16:04 AM7/16/16
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Yasmin Villa

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Apr 24, 2023, 1:38:40 AM4/24/23
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My family was an original cultivator of Nata de Coco in the Philippines between the 50's into the late 70's. An aunt has either been holding the recipe/process hostage because of our family "story" about how the mother liquor and business was stolen from us OR she/the family truly didn't understand or know how to get the culture restarted and genuinely thought they lost it and couldn't start again. 

I'm in my myco and ancestral veneration journey, now being called to restart and reconnect with this process...

I'm filled with deep gratitude. Thank you all for helping me find this community, the open source of this information, and for connecting a large piece of my ancestral constellation. I'm excited to create the space in which I get to navigate this process.

Wonder what OP ended up creating!

On Saturday, July 16, 2016 at 7:16:04 AM UTC-7 John MacBride wrote:
No problem...
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