Bacterial Growth Inhibition Potential of Nanoparticles Mycosynthesized from Soil Penicillium Species

Nanotechnology is one of the promising technologies for various science applications in 21st century. Nanoparticles synthesized through mycobiosynthesis are successfully used in wide area of science such as drug delivery agents in cancer biology, food processing, medicine, agriculture, biomedical, etc. The diverse applications of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) instigated us to biosynthesis them from soil fungus, characterize and explore them for biological applications in the current investigation. Mycobiosynthesis of Penicillium species isolated from the soil was confirmed by filtrate colour from colourless to pink colour. Further production of AgNPs in fungal filtrate was witnessed by their distinct absorption peak in UV-visible spectrophotometer at 440nm and four distinct powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) peaks at 2θ value of 38.4°, 44.5°, 64.90°, and 77.4°. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis of AgNPs revealed various functional groups possibly associated with biosynthesis of AgNPs. High resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) analysis indicated presence of various sizes of AgNPs ranging from 10 to 90nm and 40-50nm being dominant sizes of nanoparticles. AgNPs evaluated for biological activity showed substantial antibacterial activity against E. coli and S. aureus. Nanoparticles indicated significant inhibition of Escherichia coli growth at exponential to death phase of bacterial growth curve. In addition to antibacterial potential, AgNPs also revealed significant anti-diabetic activity with IC50 of 182µg when screened from 12.5 µg to 400 µg concentration. It is inferred that bio-fabrication of AgNPs from Penicillium sp with potential biological applications was successfully achieved using an environmental friendly technique.