Hydrophilic-modified polyurethane nanofibre scaffolds for culture of hyperthermophiles

Hyperthermophiles are expected as the source of thermostable enzymes, but agarose-gel culture is unavailable for isolating them because of the high temperature culture condition. In this paper, we proposed the scaffold suitable for long-term culture of hyperthermophiles, which is applicable for an extremely high-temperature. We have investigated the dynamics of the attachment and colonisation of Sulfolobus solfataricus, onto electrospun nanofiber scaffold. Observation by fluorescent microscopy and SEM demonstrated adhered and colonised onto the polyurethane nanofibres the hydrophilicity of which was enhanced by oxygen plasma treatment. This research is a first step towards developing a new approach to successful solid-culture of hyperthermophiles under extreme conditions.