KAIST: "Eco-Friendly Rainbow-Colored Fibers Produced by Bacteria...Potential to Replace Dyeing Processes"

A technology enabling the production of eco-friendly rainbow-colored fibers in a single process using bacteria has been developed. This technology is being evaluated as having the potential to replace petroleum-based dyeing processes.

KAIST announced on November 19 that the research team led by Distinguished Professor Lee Sangyeop of the Department of Biological Sciences and Chemical Engineering has developed the world's first "modular co-culture platform" capable of producing bacterial cellulose (microbial fibers with color) in a variety of colors through a single process.

(From right) Professor Lee Sangyeop of KAIST, PhD candidate Pingxin Lin, PhD candidate Zhou Hengrui. Courtesy of KAIST

Bacterial cellulose is a natural polymer fiber synthesized by certain bacteria (mainly Komagataeibacter xylinus) as they consume nutrients. With its high purity, strength, excellent moisture retention, and biodegradability, it is attracting attention as an eco-friendly material that could replace petroleum-based fibers.

However, bacterial cellulose is essentially close to white, making it difficult to achieve the diverse colors required by the textile industry. While conventional dyeing processes are relatively advantageous for creating colors, they heavily rely on petroleum-derived dyes and toxic reagents, raising significant environmental concerns and involving complex procedures.

To address these issues, the research team established a "one-step manufacturing platform" by integrating pigment biosynthesis technology based on systems metabolic engineering with a co-culture strategy for bacterial cellulose-producing strains. The co-culture strategy involves one microorganism producing pigments and another producing fibers (cellulose), which are then combined within a single process.

By cultivating pigment-producing E. coli together with fiber-producing bacteria, the team enabled the natural production of colored fibers within a single process as the bacteria grew.

Using this method, the team successfully produced eco-friendly rainbow-colored fibers-red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet-without chemical dyeing. The core technology lies in the advanced design of the E. coli strains to overproduce natural pigments and efficiently secrete them outside the cells.

This technology has the potential to replace conventional textile dyeing processes. In particular, the possibility of mass production applicable to on-site processes adds to its significance. The research team expects that the developed technology can be widely utilized to produce a variety of functional biomaterials, including sustainable fibers and wearable bio-materials.

Professor Lee stated, "Given the increasing demand for sustainable fibers and biomaterials, the integrated biological manufacturing platform developed by our team will become a key technology for producing various functional materials in a single step without separate chemical treatment."

Meanwhile, Zhou Hengrui, a PhD candidate in the Department of Biological Sciences and Chemical Engineering, participated as the first author of this research. The results (paper) were published in 'Trends in Biotechnology' on November 12.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.