[DIYbio] Re: Simple basic question

Hi,

I think what Dina is alluding to is the fact that kombucha scoby has been used by the fashion industry to make clothes. Dried scoby appears leathery, can be tanned and shaped into clothes. I think it is even being marketed as a possible vegan alternative to leather. The mayor problem with it is that it gets slimy and unpleasant if wet, which is probably why Dina wants to know more about making kombucha leather waterproof.

http://fashioningcircuits.com/?p=2127

As far as I know scoby leather is fairly new and was pioneered by Susan Lee (see  the article above). At the Ascus lab in Edinburgh my colleagues are also experimenting with making stuff out of kombucha scoby and also from fungal micelium. They are also in contact with Susan I think. If you want to know more, head on over to their website and just ask them, they are a very helpful bunch: http://www.ascus.org.uk/

On Sunday, 29 July 2018 00:09:49 UTC+1, Reginald Smith wrote:

Hi, vinegar manufacturer here. I have not heard of this and I think there may be some confusion about making "leather" with a kombucha scoby. First, leather is from cow hide and the structural proteins that make up leather are collagens. Kombucha scoby is actually just a mother of vinegar (kombucha is basically dilute vinegar from a sugary tea base) which is made of cellulose as you state below.

There is actually a large amount of research being done on using mother of vinegar cellulose has a possible feedstock for paper production, mostly using Komagaetaeibacter xylinus (also known as Gluconacetobacter xylinus or Acetobacter xylinus in old books). This is a very productive cellulose producing strain and they try to have it make cellulose using a glucose feedstock instead of alcohol (as in vinegar production) since it is less expensive. The cost and quality haven't quite gotten there yet though.

On Friday, July 27, 2018 at 2:08:45 PM UTC-4, Dina Amiri wrote:

Hello!
Who was the first person who discovered we can make leather with kombucha's scoby? Was it used in the past or it's a new discovery?  What is the importance of this discovery?  If bacterial leather consists of cellulose can it be treated like paper? If researchers came up with an enzime to make paper waterproof,  can this also work for bacterial leather?
Thank you.