THE CONTROL OF CELLULOSE BIOSYNTHESIS BY ACETOBACTER-XYLINUM IN VIEW OF MOLECULAR-WEIGHT AND MOLECULAR-WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION .1. CHANGE OF MOLECULAR-WEIGHT OF BACTERIAL CELLULOSE BY SIMPLE VARIATION OF CULTURE CONDITIONS

The variation of culture conditions - such as inoculation procedures, cultivation times, subspecies of Acetobacter xylinum and carbon source s - lead to different bacterial cellulose products. After isolation an d purification of the bacterial cellulose (BC) from the culture medium the BC was analyzed by subsequent mild trimethylsilylation to silylat ed cellulose followed by size-exclusion chromatography (SEC). Signific ant molecular weight shifts of these BC's were shown and discussed for a control of BC formation. The data of SEC from silylated BC are crit ically compared with a carbanilated BC.