Extensive Molecular Characterization of a New Bacterial Cellulose Hydrogel (BCH) Producing Gluconacetobacter Isolate from Nigeria-Sourced Agro-Residue

Bacterial cellulose hydrogels (BCHs) are characterized as exopolysaccharides of glucose polymers consisting of β–1–4–glycosidic linkage with various degrees of polymerization which are synthesized by bacteria. There is a paucity of information on the isolation and characterization of a BCH producer isolate from Nigeria. The study, therefore, aimed to characterize a new Acetobacter species that had previously been confirmed to produce BCH. The BCH-producing isolate was characterized by PCR amplification of the full-length 16S rRNA gene, as well as whole-genome sequencing analysis. The whole-genome sequence of the isolate was determined using the Illumina next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform, with downstream analysis of genomic reads through the metaWRAP pipeline. The BCH producer isolate was identified to be Acetobacter orientalis strain Zaria-B1, based on sequence identity with the reference Acetobacter orientalis strain VVS. Based on its annotated genome, the isolate had an approximate genomic size of 3.1 Mbp, 45 total RNAs, a GC content of 52.5%, 3046 total protein-encoding genes, an N50 of 253,774 bp, and an L50 of 4, as well as 30 contigs. The nucleotide BLAST of the cellulose synthase gene sequence confirmed the bin to be Acetobacter orientalis. The whole-genome characterization alongside the 16S rRNA genotyping confirmed the BCH-producing isolate to be Acetobacter orientalis.