94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Antimicrobials, Resistance and Chemotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1581486
Biosynthesis of bimetallic silver-copper oxide nanoparticles using endophytic Clonostachys rosea ZMS36 and their biomedical applications
Provisionally accepted
ZhiJiang Chen
Tianyu LvYuxing ZhangWeitao KongXixian LiSiyun XieJiaqi LiYu LongLiqing ChenJiarong LiuZhiqi Li
Xingda Zeng*
Zujun Deng*- Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Bimetallic nanoparticles (BMNPs) have garnered significant interest owing to their exceptional physicochemical properties. However, there have been few reports of the biosynthesis of BMNPs using endophytic fungi from medicinal plants. The objectives of this study were to isolate endophytic fungi from medicinal plant Anemarrhena asphodeloides to synthesize bimetallic Ag-CuO nanoparticles (Ag-CuO NPs), characterize the biosynthesized Ag-CuO NPs and assess their bioactivity and biosafety. The endophytic fungus ZMS36 capable of biosynthesizing Ag-CuO NPs was isolated from medicinal plant A. asphodeloides and identified as Clonostachys rosea. The Ag-CuO NPs were biosynthesized using endophytic C. rosea ZMS36 and characterized by UV-visible, SEM, TEM, EDS, XRD and FTIR. The Ag-CuO NPs exhibited good antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Salmonella typhimurium and Shigella dysenteriae. They also significantly inhibited the growth of MRSA and the expression of mecA gene, especially in conjunction with vancomycin, the preferred antibiotic for clinical treatment of MRSA infections. The Ag-CuO NPs showed promising anticancer activity in antiproliferative assays on the tumor cell lines HeLa, PDSF and A549. Furthermore, the Ag-CuO NPs inhibited the migration of HeLa cells as well as angiogenesis in chicken embryos, helping to inhibit tumor metastasis. Interestingly, the Ag-CuO NPs showed low cytotoxicity, indicating good biocompatibility. This study revealed the potential of endophytic fungi from medicinal plants to synthesize BMNPs and highlighted biosynthetic Ag-CuO NPs as promising novel antibacterial and anticancer nanodrugs for future biomedical applications.
Keywords: endophytic fungi, medicinal plant, Ag-CuO NPs, Antibacterial Agents, Anticancer agents
Received: 07 Mar 2025; Accepted: 15 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Lv, Zhang, Kong, Li, Xie, Li, Long, Chen, Liu, Li, Zeng and Deng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xingda Zeng, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China
Zujun Deng, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.