Background: Numerous cyanobacteria have the potential to reduce metallic ions to form pure metal nanoparticles in a green biosynthesis process.
Aim: To investigate the production capacity of silver nanoparticles by the cyanobacterium Cyanothece sp. and to examine the effect of five different phytohormones, indole acetic acid, kinetin; gibberellic acid; abscisic acid; and methyl jasmonate, on this capacity.
Methods: The cyanobacterial strain was grown for 60 days and the harvested cyanobacterium biomass was incubated with 0.1 mM of AgNO3. Percentage conversion of Ag+ to Ag0 was calculated to indicate the AgNPs' production capacity. Different concentrations of the five phytohormones were added to cultures and the AgNP production was monitored throughout different time intervals.
Results: Cyanothece sp. biosynthesized spherical AgNPs (diameter range 70 to 140 nm, average diameter 84.37 nm). The addition of indole acetic acid and kinetin provoked the maximum conversion (87.29% and 55.16%, respectively) of Ag+ to Ag0, exceeding or slightly below that of the control (56%). Gibberellic and abscisic acids failed to elevate the Ag+ to Ag0 conversion rate (45.23% and 47.95%, respectively) above that of the control. Methyl jasmonate increased the Ag+ to Ag0 conversion rate to 90.29%, although nearly all the cyanobacterial cultures died at the end.
Conclusion: Phytohormones could be used to induce or inhibit the green production of AgNPs with the cyanobacterium Cyanothece sp. This novel manipulation technique may have several applications in agriculture or biomedicine.
Keywords: GA3; IAA; abscisic acid; kinetin; methyl jasmonate.