  Bacterial cellulose is an important class of biomaterials which can be grown
in well-controlled laboratory and industrial conditions. The cellulose
structure is affected by several biological, chemical and environmental
factors, including hydrodynamic flows in bacterial suspensions. In this work,
we explore the possibility of using well controlled turbulent flow to control
the bacterial cellulose production. Turbulent flows leading to random motion of
fluid elements may affect the structure of the extracellular polymeric matrix
produced by bacteria. Here we show that two-dimensional turbulence at the
air-liquid interface generates chaotic rotation at a well-defined scale and
random persistent stretching of the fluid elements. The results offer new
approaches to engineering of the bacterial cellulose structure by controlling
turbulence parameters.
