• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.1664-1670
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• 2018

Titanium dioxide ($TiO_2$) has wide applications in food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing due to its many properties such as photocatalytic activity and stability. In this study, the biosynthesis of $TiO_2$ nanoparticles (NPs) was achieved by using Baker's yeast. $TiO_2$ NPs were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), UV-Visible spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) studies. The XRD pattern confirmed the formation of pure anatase $TiO_2$ NPs. According to EDX data Ti, O, P and N were the key elements present in the sample. SEM and TEM revealed that the nanoparticles produced were spherical in shape with an average size of $6.7{\pm}2.2nm$. The photocatalytic activity of $TiO_2$ NPs was studied by monitoring the degradation of methylene blue dye when treated with $TiO_2$ NPs. $TiO_2$ NPs were found to be highly photocatalytic comparable to commercially available 21 nm $TiO_2$ NPs. This study is the first report on antimicrobial study of yeast-mediated $TiO_2$ NPs synthesized using $TiCl_3$. Antimicrobial activity of $TiO_2$ NPs was greater against selected Gram-positive bacteria and Candida albicans when compared to Gram-negative bacteria both in the presence or absence of sunlight exposure. $TiO_2$ NPs expressed a significant effect on microbial growth. The results indicate the significant physical properties and the impact of yeast-mediated $TiO_2$ N Ps as a novel antimicrobial.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.731-738
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• 2017

A novel approach to synthesize silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using leaf extract of Canna edulis Ker-Gawl. (CELE) under ambient conditions is reported here. The as-prepared AgNPs were analyzed by UV-visible spectroscopy, transmission emission microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy, energy-dispersive analysis of X-ray spectroscopy, zeta potential, and dynamic light scattering. The AgNPs showed excellent antimicrobial activity against various pathogens, including bacteria and various fungi. The biocompatibility of the AgNPs was analyzed in the L929 cell line using NRU and MTT assays. Acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining was used to determine whether the AgNPs had necrotic or apoptotic effects on L929 cells. The concentration of AgNPs required for 50% inhibition of growth of mammalian cells is far more than that required for inhibition of pathogenic microorganisms. Thus, CELE is a candidate for the eco-friendly, clean, cost-effective, and nontoxic synthesis of AgNPs.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.448-452
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• 2014

Nanocomposite membrane to show facilitated olefin transport was prepared for enhanced separation performance. Addtion of halogen molecules into PVP/AgNPs/ TCNQ nanocomposite membrane was expected to further polarize the surface of AgNPs for enhancing the separation performance. The formation of AgNPs and presence of iodine was confirmed by TEM and EDS analysis, respectively. The separation performance for propylene/propane mixture was compared with that of PVP/AgNPs/TCNQ nanocomposite membrane. The long-term stability of membrane was investigated with time.

• Clean Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.251-256
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• 2020

The biocompatibility and plasmonic properties of Au nanoparticles make them useful for photothermal therapy, drug delivery, imaging, and many other fields. This study demonstrated a novel, facile, economic, and green synthetic method to produce gold nanoparticles. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with spherical and triangular shapes were effectively synthesized using only Schisandra chenesis fruit extract as the capping and reducing agent. The shape of the AuNPs could be engineered simply by adjusting the molar concentration of HAuCl4 in the reaction mixture. The as-synthesized AuNPs were characterized using UV-VIS spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDXA). This study revealed that by using the HAuCl4 concentration in the AuNP synthesis, the shape and size of the AuNPs could be controlled by the concentration of HAuCl4 and Schisandra chinensis fruit extract as a surfactant. The as-synthesized AuNPs samples had sufficient colloidal stability without noticeable aggregation and showed the predominant growth of the (111) plane of face-centered cubic gold during the crystal growth. The catalytic efficiency of the AuNPs synthesized using Schisandra chenesis fruit extract was examined by monitoring the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol using Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis spectroscopy). The synthesized AuNPs showed good catalytic activity to reduce 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol, revealing their practical usefulness.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.2621-2624
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• 2014

The rapid and spontaneous adsorption of proteins on nanoparticle (NP) surfaces in biological fluids such as blood is an important phenomenon as it possibly determines "what the cells see" and, thus, the fates of NPs in living organisms. In order to quantitatively understand protein coronas at the molecular level, we investigated human serum albumin (HSA) coronas that were produced on silica NPs of 20 nm and 50 nm diameters using conventional gel electrophoresis. Analysis of the concentration dependence of protein adsorption showed that HSA coronas preferentially formed a monolayer on silica NPs and revealed the presence of hard protein coronas. HSA adsorption was clearly dependent on NP size, and this might be due to the different surface curvatures of NPs of different sizes.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.121-134
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• 2022

Emerge of nanotechnology impacts all aspects of humans' life. One of important aspects of the nanotechnology and nanoparticles (NPs) is in the food production industry. The safety of such foods is not well recognized and producing safe foods using nanoparticles involves delicate experiments. In this study, we aim to incorporate intelligent computer simulation in predicting safety degree of nanofoods. In this regard, the safety concerns on the nano-foods are addressed considering cytotoxicity levels in metal oxides nanoparticles using adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and response surface method (RSM). Three descriptors including chemical bond length, lattice energy and enthalpy of formation gaseous cation of 15 selected NPs are examined to find their influence on the cytotoxicity of NPs. The most effective descriptor is selected using RSM method and dependency of the toxicity of these NPs on the descriptors are presented in 2D and 3D graphs obtained using ANFIS technique. A comprehensive parameters study is conducted to observe effects of different descriptors on cytotoxicity of NPs. The results indicated that combinations of descriptors have the most effects on the cytotoxicity.

• Mycobiology
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.383-391
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• 2020

Use of nanoparticles (NPs) in several commercial products has led to emergence of novel contaminants of air, soil and water bodies. The NPs may exhibit greater ecotoxicity due to nano-scale dependent properties over their bulk counterparts. The present investigation explores the effect of in vitro supplementation of TiO₂, silica and silver NPs on radial growth and ultrastructural changes in the hyphae and spores of two mushroom genera, Ganoderma lucidum and Volvariella volvaceae. A concentration dependent decrease in radial growth on NP amended potato dextrose agar medium was recorded. However, in comparison to control, there was decrease in radial diameter on supplementation with TiO₂ NPs while an increase was recorded for silica and silver NPs amendments as compared to their bulk salts at same concentrations after 48 h of incubation. Optical microscopy studies showed decrease in the number of spores while increase in spore diameter and thinning of hyphal diameter on NPs supplementation. Scanning electron microscopy analysis of fungal growth showed presence of deflated and oblong spores in two fruiting strains of Ganoderma while Volvariella exhibited decreased sporulation. Further, hyphal thinning and branching was recorded in response to NP amendments in both the test mushrooms. Enhancement of protein content was observed on NP compared to bulk supplementation for all cultures, concentrations and hours of incubation except for TiO₂ NPs. Likewise, bulk and NP supplementations (at 100 mg L^-1) resulted in enhanced laccase activity with occurrence of laccase specific protein bands on SDS-PAGE analysis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.1367-1375
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• 2018

Silver nanoparticles have been widely applied for biomedical areas owing to their potent antiviral and antibacterial activities. Synthesis of silver nanoparticles using biomacromolecules is more efficient, environment-friendly, and cost-saving compared with the traditional approach. In this paper, a novel approach was developed to establish a reaction system with $Ag^+-BH4^--sericin$ to synthesize silver nanoparticles conjugated to sericin (AgNPs-Sericin). Sericin could be as a good dispersant and stabilizing agent, which is able to modify nanoscaled AgNPs, the average diameter of which was only $3.78{\pm}1.14nm$ prepared in a 0.3 mg/ml sericin solution. The characterizations of the AgNPs-Sericin were determined by FTIR, thermogravimetry, and XRD analyses. The results showed that the synthesized AgNPs conjugated with sericin as organic phase. Via SAED and XRD analysis, we showed that these AgNPs formed polycrystalline powder with a face-centered cubic structure of bulk metals. Moreover, we investigated the antiviral and antibacterial activities of AgNPs-Sericin, and the results showed that AgNPs-Sericin exhibited potent anti-HIV-1 activity against CCR5-tropic and CXCR4-tropic strains, but no significant cytotoxicity was found toward human genital epithelial cells compared with free silver ions, which are accepted as a commonly used potent antimicrobial agent. Moreover, its antibacterial activity was determined via flow cytometry. The results showed that AgNPs-Sericin could suppress gram-negative (E. coli) and gram-positive (S. aureus) bacteria, but more was potent for the gram-negative one. We concluded that our AgNPs-Sericin could be a potential candidate as a microbicide or antimicrobial agent to prevent sexually transmitted infections.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.1195-1208
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• 2022

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have potential applications in medicine, photocatalysis, agriculture, and cosmetic fields due to their unique physicochemical properties and strong antimicrobial activity. Here, AgNPs were synthesized using actinobacterial SL19 strain, isolated from acidic forest soil in Poland, and confirmed by UV-vis and FTIR spectroscopy, TEM, and zeta potential analysis. The AgNPs were polydispersed, stable, spherical, and small, with an average size of 23 nm. The FTIR study revealed the presence of bonds characteristic of proteins that cover nanoparticles. These proteins were then studied by using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and identified with the highest similarity to hypothetical protein and porin with molecular masses equal to 41 and 38 kDa, respectively. Our AgNPs exhibited remarkable antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The combined, synergistic action of these synthesized AgNPs with commercial antibiotics (ampicillin, kanamycin, streptomycin, and tetracycline) enabled dose reductions in both components and increased their antimicrobial efficacy, especially in the case of streptomycin and tetracycline. Furthermore, the in vitro activity of the AgNPs on human cancer cell lines (MCF-7, A375, A549, and HepG2) showed cancer-specific sensitivity, while the genotoxic activity was evaluated by Ames assay, which revealed a lack of mutagenicity on the part of nanoparticles in Salmonella Typhimurium TA98 strain. We also studied the impact of the AgNPs on the catalytic and photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO). The decomposition of MO was observed by a decrease in intensity of absorbance within time. The results of our study proved the easy, fast, and efficient synthesis of AgNPs using acidophilic actinomycete SL19 strain and demonstrated the remarkable potential of these AgNPs as anticancer and antibacterial agents. However, the properties and activity of such particles can vary by biosynthesized batch.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.129-136
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• 2024

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) growth in processed meat products produces slime. In this study, 10 different biofilm-forming LAB, including Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Lacticaseibacillus paracasei, Levilactobacillus brevis, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, Leuconostoc citreum, Weissella viridescens, and Latilactobacillus sakei, were isolated from various meat products and identified based on 16S rRNA gene analysis. To inhibit biofilm formation by LABs, Eisenia bicycles methanolic extract (EB) and ethyl acetate soluble fraction (EA) were used as antibacterial and antibiofilm agents, respectively. Furthermore, EA and EB were employed to synthesize gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) such as EB-AuNPs and EA-AuNPs, which could serve as antibiofilm agents against the isolated LAB. These findings demonstrate that EA, EB-AuNPs, and EA-AuNPs exhibit significant antibacterial activity against the isolated LAB. Furthermore, EB-AuNPs reduced L. citreum biofilm production, whereas EA-AuNPs inhibited L. mesenteroides and L. brevis biofilm formation. The current results suggest that EB-AuNPs and EA-AuNPs can be used as nanomaterials to inhibit LAB that form biofilms on meat products.