Endophytic fungi-assisted biomass synthesis of gold, and zinc oxide nanoparticles for increasing antibacterial, and anticancer activities

Pathogenic microorganisms and cancer continue to be the most difficult problem in public health care and the incidence of diseases caused by such resistant strains and cancer cells are growing. Recent advances in nanotechnology open up new possibilities for creating novel, exciting nanoparticles that are safe for human cells and may be used as smart antibacterial and anticancer medicines. The novelty of the present study is the extracellular green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs), and gold (Au) NPs using the cell filtrate of the endophytic fungus Fusarium chlamydosporum MW341592.1 isolated from healthy leaves of Eucalyptus sideroxylon plant. Eco-friendly synthesized ZnO NPs and Au NPs were screening for their activity against select carcinomic cell lines and some multidrug-resistant bacteria. The synthesized ZnO NPs and Au NPs were characterized by UV-Vis. spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), dynamic light scattering (DLS), transition electron microscopy (TEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The UV-Vis. absorption spectra of the produced ZnO NPs showed bands in the UV area at 320 nm, whereas the Au NPs showed bands in the UV region at 530 nm. TEM revealed average sizes for ZnO NPs, and Au NPs as 19.3 nm and 22.1 nm, respectively, while shape revealed both ZnO NPs and Au NPs with spherical-like shape. Biological assay showed that raising in the synthesized NP concentration lowers the number of HCT-116 human colon cancer cells and CACO2 human intestinal cancer cells, as well as associated pathogens such as Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.