Microbial cellulose synthesis

Cellulose, the most abundant biopolymer on earth, has served mankind in countless applications from crude building resources to feedstock for advanced synthetic materials. As interest grows in alternative fuel resources, cellulose is among the primary contenders as a feedstock for generating these fuels. In recent years, interest in plant-derived, photosynthetically fixed cellulose has intensified, as this remains the major untapped natural source of stored solar energy in the form of carbon-carbon bonds. Although not usually considered in the biofuel sector, the ubiquity of microbial cellulose and the engineering of photosynthetic microbes for cellulose production make microbial cellulose a viable candidate. Not only does the remarkable versatility of microbial cellulose make its study worthwhile, but the microbes responsible for its synthesis serve as a simpler model for understanding the complex biological processes underlying plant cellulose synthesis.