NATIVE FOLDED-CHAIN CELLULOSE-II

A mutant strain of Acetobacter xylinum was isolated, which produces cellulose of anomalous band-like morphology in contrast to straight, crystalline microfibrils of cellulose I normally produced by the wild-type strain. The band material extruded perpendicularly from the cell surface constitutes strand-like structures with lateral dimensions of 10 nm. Electron diffraction analysis revealed that these strands are composed of cellulose II crystallites within which the molecular chains are oriented perpendicular to the strand axis. Because the average length of glucan chains in this material was determined to be about 10 times the width of the 10 nm wide strand, the elucidated features make it highly likely that this form of cellulose II involves chain folding which gives rise to the antiparallel structure.