Abstract
Elucidation of the molecular mechanism of silver nanoparticle (AgNP) synthesis is necessary to control nanoparticle size, shape, and monodispersity. In this study, the mechanism of AgNP formation by Neurospora intermedia was investigated. The higher production rate of AgNP formation using a culture supernatant heat-treated at 100° and 121°C relative to that with an un-treated culture supernatant indicated that the native form of the molecular species is not essential. The effect of the protein molecular weight (MW) on the nanoparticle size distribution and average size was studied by means of ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering. Using un-treated and concentrated cell-free filtrate passed through 10 and 20 kDa cut-off filters led to the production of AgNPs with average sizes of 25, 30, and 34 nm, respectively. Also, using the permeate fraction of cell-free filtrate passed through a 100 kDa cut-off filter led to the formation of the smallest nanoparticles with the narrowest size distribution (average size of 16 nm and polydispersity index of 0.18). Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of the fungal extracellular proteins showed two notable bands with the MWs of 15 and 23 kDa that are involved in the reduction and stabilisation of the nanoparticles, respectively.