Bacteria make a band-aid for plants? What botanist Nria Sánchez Coll found out?

Scientists discovered that plants can heal more quickly and regenerate tissue when they’re bandaged with bacterial cellulose, according to a study published last week in the journal Science Advances.

Botanist Nria Sánchez Coll of the Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics in Barcelona had been experimenting with using bacterial cellulose patches to prevent infection in injured plants. But she found that the patches also helped the plants to recover more quickly.

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The leaves of two laboratory plants were then lightly sliced. Only half of the wounds were patched. Less than 20% of the untreated wounds had healed after a week, but more than 80% of the treated ones had, say Sánchez Coll and colleagues.

The patches also enhanced vegetative propagation — a way to use cuttings to make a new plant that is genetically the same — the researchers found.

Bacterial cellulose is a natural polymer that some bacteria produce. So far, its main use has been in human medicine, often to help heal wounds. Sánchez Coll says the new work suggests uses in agriculture, such as grafting, preserving chopped plant material or acting as a growth medium in the lab. (The findings were published online today (July 28) in the journal Science News.