Biosynthesis of gold and silver nanoparticles using a novel marine strain of Stenotrophomonas

The present study aims at exploiting marine microbial diversity for biosynthesis of metal nanoparticles and also investigates role of microbial proteins in the process of bio-mineralization of gold and silver. This is the first report for concurrent production of gold and silver nanoparticles (AuNPs and AgNPs) by extracellular secretion of a novel strain of Stenotrophomonas, isolated from Indian marine origin. This novel strain has faster rate kinetics for AgNPs synthesis than any other organism reported earlier. The nanoparticles were further characterized using UV–vis spectrophotometer, TEM, DLS and EDAX confirming their size ranging from 10–50 nm and 40–60 nm in dimensions for AuNPs and AgNPs, respectively. TEM analysis indicated formation of multi-shaped nanoparticles with heterogeneous size distribution in both the cases. Finally, the SDS-PAGE analysis of extracellular media supernatant suggested a potential involvement of certain low molecular weight secretory proteins in AuNPs and AgNPs biosynthesis.