Screening of filamentous fungi for antimicrobial silver nanoparticles synthesis

Made available in DSpace on 2018-12-11T16:45:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2017-12-01 The present work had the goal of screening a batch of 20 fungal strains, isolated from sugar cane plantation soil, in order to identify those capable of biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles. These nanoparticles are known to have a large and effective application in clinical microbiology. Four strains were found to be capable of biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles. The biosynthesised nanoparticles were characterised by UV–vis spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, EDX, and XRD. They were found to have an average size of 30–100 nm, a regular round shape, and potential antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The antimicrobial activity was found to be directly related to the nanoparticles concentration. Mycogenic synthesis of nanoparticles is a green biogenic process preferable to other alternatives. Because fungi are great producers of extracellular enzymes this process makes scaling-up an easier task with high importance for clinical microbiology on the fight against microbial resistance, as well as for other industrial applications. Biosciences Institute São Paulo State University-UNESP, Praça Infante Dom Henrique s/no Biology Department Edge Hill University, St Helens Road, Lancashire Richmond Pharmacology Ltd St George’s University London Laboratório de Biotecnologia Industrial Instituto de Pesquisa Tecnológica do Estado de São Paulo Departamento de Química Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Av. General Rodrigo Octávio, Coroado I, 6200 Biosciences Institute São Paulo State University-UNESP, Praça Infante Dom Henrique s/no