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Anti-bacterial TeNPs biosynthesized by haloarcheaon Halococcus salifodinae BK3

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Abstract

Microbial synthesis of highly structured metal sulfide and metallic nanoparticles is a benign approach of nanomaterial synthesis. Various microbes have been exploited for nanoparticle synthesis, but nanofabrication using haloarchaea is still in nascent stages. Here, we report the intracellular synthesis of hexagonal needle-shaped tellurium nanoparticles with an aspect ratio of 1:4.4, by the haloarcheon Halococcus salifodinae BK3. The isolate was able to tolerate up to 5.5 mM K2TeO3. The yield of tellurium nanoparticles was highest when the culture was exposed to 3 mM K2TeO3, even though the isolate exhibited slightly decreased growth rate as compared to the culture growing in the absence of K2TeO3. The enzyme tellurite reductase was responsible for tellurite resistance and nanoparticle synthesis in H. salifodinae BK3. These tellurium nanoparticles exhibited anti-bacterial activities against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, with higher antibacterial activity towards Gram-negative bacteria. This is the first report on the synthesis of tellurium nanoparticles by Halophilic archaea.

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Abbreviations

NTYE:

NaCl tryptone, yeast extract

TeNPs:

Tellurium nanoparticles

TEM:

Transmission electron microscope

SAED:

Selected area diffraction pattern

EDAX:

Energy dispersive analysis of X-ray

DDTC:

Diethyldithiocarbamate

β-NADH:

β-nicotinamide dinucleotide

TN:

Tris NaCl

REMA:

Resazurin microtiter assay

LT:

Lag time

NR:

Nitrate reductase

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Acknowledgments

We thank Ministry of Earth Science (MoES), Government of India for their funding of the project MoES/11-MRDF/1/38/P/10-PC-III. We would like to thank SAIF at IIT-Bombay for their help with TEM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus, NH-17B, Zuarinagar, Goa, 403 726, India

    Pallavee Srivastava, Edarapalli V. R. Nikhil, Judith M. Bragança & Meenal Kowshik

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  1. Pallavee Srivastava
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  2. Edarapalli V. R. Nikhil
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  3. Judith M. Bragança
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  4. Meenal Kowshik
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Correspondence to Meenal Kowshik.

Additional information

Communicated by H. Atomi.

Electronic supplementary material

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792_2015_767_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. 1 Effect of various concentrations of K2TeO3 (0.3 mM and 3 mM) on pigment production ability of H. salifodinae BK3. The pigment production decreased with the increase in K2TeO3 concentration. (TIFF 203 kb)

792_2015_767_MOESM2_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. 2 Growth profile of H. salifodinae BK3 at varying concentrations of K2TeO3. The growth was found to decrease with the increase in metal concentration. MIC was found to be 6 mM. (TIFF 76 kb)

792_2015_767_MOESM3_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. 3 Effect of 3 mM K2TeO3 on the colony size of H. salifodinae BK3. In order to overcome the toxicity exerted by the 3 mM K2TeO3 and to efficiently carry out the metabolic activities, the organism may have reduced its size. (TIFF 990 kb)

792_2015_767_MOESM4_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. 4 (a) Effect of K2TeO3 on the nitrate reductase enzyme activity in the absence of K2TeO3 (control) and in the presence of 0.3 and 3 mM K2TeO3 and 0.3 and 3 mM KNO3; (b) Effect of various inhibitors like PMSF, IAA, EDTA, and sodium azide on nitrate reductase enzyme activity of H. salifodinae BK3 in the presence of K2TeO3. Data represented are the enzyme activity in the presence of inhibitor as a percentage of that in controls where inhibitor was not added. Values are mean ± SD (error bars) for three experiments. (TIFF 8221 kb)

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Srivastava, P., Nikhil, E.V.R., Bragança, J.M. et al. Anti-bacterial TeNPs biosynthesized by haloarcheaon Halococcus salifodinae BK3. Extremophiles 19, 875–884 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-015-0767-9

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