Cellulose synthesis by Komagataeibacter rhaeticus strain P 1463 isolated from Kombucha

Isolate B17 from Kombucha was estimated to be an efficient producer of bacterial cellulose (BC). The isolate was deposited under the number P 1463 and identified as Komagataeibacter rhaeticus by comparing a generated amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP (TM)) DNA fingerprint against a reference database. Static cultivation of the K. rhaeticus strain P 1463 in Hestrin and Schramm (HS) medium resulted in 4.40 +/- 0.22 g/L BC being produced, corresponding to a BC yield from glucose of 25.30 +/- 1.78 %, when the inoculum was made with a modified HS medium containing 10 g/L glucose. Fermentations for 5 days using media containing apple juice with analogous carbon source concentrations resulted in 4.77 +/- 0.24 g/L BC being synthesised, corresponding to a yield from the consumed sugars (glucose, fructose and sucrose) of 37.00 +/- 2.61 %. The capacity of K. rhaeticus strain P 1463 to synthesise BC was found to be much higher than that of two reference strains for cellulose production, Komagataeibacter xylinus DSM 46604 and Komagataeibacter hansenii DSM 5602(T), and was also considerably higher than that of K. hansenii strain B22, isolated from another Kombucha sample. The BC synthesised by K. rhaeticus strain P 1463 after 40 days of cultivation in HS medium with additional glucose supplemented to the cell culture during cultivation was shown to have a degree of polymerization of 3300.0 +/- 122.1 glucose units, a tensile strength of 65.50 +/- 3.27 MPa and a length at break of 16.50 +/- 0.83 km. For the other strains, these properties did not exceed 25.60 +/- 1.28 MPa and 15.20 +/- 0.76 km

Exploring the Organization of University–Industry Joint Laboratories:A Leadership Perspective

University–industry collaborations are an important driver of innovation that highlights the benefits of collaborative processes across organizational boundaries. However, like in most collaborative processes, many challenges remain when trying to manage the process of knowledge sharing and interaction in university–industry partnerships. In this chapter, the authors specifically investigate how leadership as a managerial dimension facilitates collaboration within university–industry joint laboratories. The authors present an explorative and inductive case study of eight joint laboratories set up by Telecom Italia within five major Italian universities. The results show that the laboratory directors play a crucial role in providing a dynamic and socially active working environment, which is enabled through a process of sensemaking and sensegiving. The authors, moreover, find that this process plays a crucial role by shaping effective communication channels that facilitate knowledge sharing and transfer of information. The authors find that this process ultimately acts as a mediator between charismatic leadership on the individual level and distributed leadership on the collective level