PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Theanne N. Schiros
AU  - Romare Antrobus
AU  - Delfina Farias
AU  - Yueh-Ting Chiu
AU  - Christian Tay Joseph
AU  - Shanece Esdaille
AU  - Gwen Karen Sanchiricco
AU  - Grace Miquelon
AU  - Dong An
AU  - Sebastian T. Russell
AU  - Adrian M. Chitu
AU  - Susanne Goetz
AU  - Anne Marika Verploegh Chassé
AU  - Colin Nuckolls
AU  - Sanat K. Kumar
AU  - Helen H. Lu
TI  - Microbial Biotextiles for a Circular Materials Economy
AID  - 10.1101/2021.09.22.461422
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.09.22.461422
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/09/24/2021.09.22.461422.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/09/24/2021.09.22.461422.full
AB  - Harnessing microbial biofabrication and inspired by indigenous practices, we engineer high-performance microbial nanocellulose (MC) biotextiles with a sustainable circular life cycle. Specifically, our plant-based lecithin phosphocholine treatment modulates cellulose cross-linking through phosphate and methylene groups, to yield a biodegradable material with superior mechanical and flame-retardant properties. Coloration is achieved using natural dyes and waste-to-resource strategies. Life cycle impact assessment reveals MC biotextiles mitigate the carcinogenics of leather by a factor of 103 and the carbon footprint of synthetic leather and cotton by ∼97%, for widespread application in fashion, interiors, and construction. The translational potential of this approach is tremendous, as using microbes and green chemistry to engineer regenerative, high-performance products will disrupt linear production models and mitigate its environmental threats in a circular economy.One-Sentence Summary We engineer high-performance, microbial biotextiles which mitigate the climate and toxicity impacts of conventional textiles.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.