Table Of ContentNanotechnology in the Life Sciences
Ram Prasad Editor
Microbial
Nanobionics
Volume 1, State-of-the-Art
Nanotechnology in the Life Sciences
Series Editor
Ram Prasad
Department of Botany
Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Motihari, Bihar, India
Nano and biotechnology are two of the 21st century’s most promising technologies.
Nanotechnology is demarcated as the design, development, and application of
materials and devices whose least functional make up is on a nanometer scale (1 to
100 nm). Meanwhile, biotechnology deals with metabolic and other physiological
developments of biological subjects including microorganisms. These microbial
processes have opened up new opportunities to explore novel applications, for
example, the biosynthesis of metal nanomaterials, with the implication that these
two technologies (i.e., thus nanobiotechnology) can play a vital role in developing
and executing many valuable tools in the study of life. Nanotechnology is very
diverse, ranging from extensions of conventional device physics to completely new
approaches based upon molecular self-assembly, from developing new materials
with dimensions on the nanoscale, to investigating whether we can directly control
matters on/in the atomic scale level. This idea entails its application to diverse fields
of science such as plant biology, organic chemistry, agriculture, the food industry,
and more.
Nanobiotechnology offers a wide range of uses in medicine, agriculture, and the
environment. Many diseases that do not have cures today may be cured by nano-
technology in the future. Use of nanotechnology in medical therapeutics needs
adequate evaluation of its risk and safety factors. Scientists who are against the use
of nanotechnology also agree that advancement in nanotechnology should continue
because this field promises great benefits, but testing should be carried out to ensure
its safety in people. It is possible that nanomedicine in the future will play a crucial
role in the treatment of human and plant diseases, and also in the enhancement of
normal human physiology and plant systems, respectively. If everything proceeds as
expected, nanobiotechnology will, one day, become an inevitable part of our every-
day life and will help save many lives.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15921
Ram Prasad
Editor
Microbial Nanobionics
Volume 1, State-of-the-Art
Editor
Ram Prasad
Department of Botany
Mahatma Gandhi Central University
Motihari, Bihar, India
ISSN 2523-8027 ISSN 2523-8035 (electronic)
Nanotechnology in the Life Sciences
ISBN 978-3-030-16382-2 ISBN 978-3-030-16383-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16383-9
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Foreword
Bionics is a discipline focused on the application of knowledge gained by study-
ing living organisms and their structures in the development of new technologies.
Although officially this is a young interdisciplinary field of science that originated
in the 1960s, the principles of this idea were used, for example, by Leonardo da
Vinci in his flying machine inspired by a bat at the early sixteenth century.
Nanobionics is an even younger field; its beginnings can be traced back to the first
decade of the new millennium. Nanotechnology has become a phenomenon of the
twenty-first century, and bionics, under the name “nanobionics,” aims to prepare
a variety of nanomaterials by so-called green synthesis using nature-inspired
resources. Nanoparticles can be prepared using “heavy” chemistry, plant extracts,
or using a variety of microorganisms, which can be natural, bred, or genetically
modified as in many cases when microorganisms are used in the industrial
biotechnology.
Microorganisms (bacteria, fungi) can be found without exaggeration anywhere
on our planet, are able to survive extreme conditions, and provide remarkable prod-
ucts. Microorganisms are an essential part of biota, including human. Some are
beneficial, e.g., for digestion, for the production of secondary metabolites for indus-
trial and biomedical purposes, and for good soil quality. It should be noted that soil
microorganisms are the most represented of all soil biota; they are responsible for
the creation, circulation of nutrients and other compounds in the soil, fertility, soil
regeneration, overall plant health, and sustainable soil ecosystem. Useful soil micro-
organisms include especially those that are symbiotic with plant roots (i.e., mycor-
rhizal fungi, rhizobia, actinomycetes, diazotrophic bacteria), ensure nutrient
availability, promote mineralization, produce plant growth hormones, and help
plants to fight diseases, pests, and parasites (so-called biocontrol agents). On the
other hand, microorganisms can have adverse impact on living organisms, which is
reflected, for example, in various diseases of plants, animals, and humans. The
increase in the number of drug-resistant and multidrug-resistant strains/species of
microorganisms causing both major damage to agriculture and the food industry
and disproportionately increasing the cost of human treatment poses a major global
v
vi Foreword
threat. With climate change, other pathogenic agents are emerging at new latitudes,
and the reduced immunity of the human population contributes to the increase in
life-threatening infections caused by originally nonpathogenic microorganisms.
This book series deals with the use of microorganisms, i.e., a wide range of dif-
ferent bacteria, yeasts, and filamentous fungi, to produce various nanomaterials for
the application in a wide range of human activities and purposes. It provides valu-
able modern knowledge on how to choose a suitable microorganism, how to adjust/
prepare it, what to avoid, and what is the negative impact of nanoparticles on “living
synthesizers.” The current overview of applications of microorganisms for the bio-
synthesis of nanomaterials for environmental, energy, or biomedical purposes is the
matter of course. I am convinced that both volumes of the book series Microbial
Nanobionics will become an indispensable resource and reference for any engineers
and researchers interested or engaged in the biosynthesis of nanomaterials using
microorganisms, the use of microbial photosynthetic reaction centers combined
with nanoparticles for photocurrent generation, or the application of nanobiosensors
for microbial growth and diagnostics.
Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University Josef Jampílek
Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies
and Materials, Palacký University
Olomouc, Czech Republic
Biographical Sketch of Josef Jampilek
Josef Jampílek completed his Ph.D. degree in
Medicinal Chemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the
Charles University (Czech Republic) in 2004. During
2004–2011, he worked in expert and managerial posts
in the R&D Division of the pharmaceutical company
Zentiva (Czech Republic). Prof. Jampilek deepened his
professional knowledge at the Medicinal Chemistry
Institute of the Heidelberg University (Germany) and
at multiple specialized courses. In 2009, he became an
Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the
Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Veterinary
and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno (Czech Republic).
In 2017, he was designated as a Full Professor of
Medicinal Chemistry at the Comenius University in
Bratislava (Slovakia). He is currently working at the
Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in
Foreword vii
Bratislava (Slovakia) and at the Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and
Materials, Palacky University Olomouc (Czech Republic). He is an author/co-
author of more than 30 patents/patent applications, almost 200 peer-reviewed scien-
tific publications, 7 university textbooks, 20 chapters in monographs, and many
invited lectures at international conferences and workshops. He also received sev-
eral awards for his scientific results, e.g., from Aventis, Elsevier, Willey, Sanofi, and
FDA. His research interests include design, synthesis, and structure-activity rela-
tionships of heterocyclic compounds as anti-invasive and anti-inflammatory agents
as well as photosynthesis inhibitors. He is also interested in ADME, drug bioavail-
ability, nanosystems, and pharmaceutical analysis, especially solid-state analytical
techniques.
Preface
Microbes are widely used in the chemical and food sectors, biomedicine and in vari-
ous areas such as environmental remediation, green chemistry, sustainable manu-
facturing, biomass energy and resources. The use of microbes to synthesize biogenic
nanoparticles has been of great interest. Microorganisms can change the oxidation
state of metals, and these microbial processes have opened up new opportunities for
us to explore novel applications, for example, the biosynthesis of metal nanomateri-
als. In contrast to chemical and physical methods, microbial processes for synthe-
sizing nanomaterials can be achieved in aqueous phase under gentle and eco-friendly
benign conditions. This approach has become an attractive focus in microbial nano-
technology research toward resource-efficient and sustainable development. This
book covers the synthesis of nanoparticles by microbes (bacteria, fungi, actinomy-
cetes, and so on), and the mechanisms involved in such biosynthesis, and a unique
template for synthesis of tailored nanoparticles targeted at therapeutics, medicine,
agriculture, biofuel and toward new applications that integrate microbes with nano-
materials to produce biohybrids and the next generation of bionic architectures.
This book should be immensely useful to nanoscience scholars, especially
microbiologists, nanotechnologists, researchers, technocrats, and scientists of
microbial nanobiotechnology. I am honoured that the leading scientists who have
extensive, in-depth experience and expertise in microbial systems and nanobiotech-
nology took the time and effort to develop these outstanding chapters. Each chapter
was written by internationally recognized researchers and scientists so the reader is
given an up-to-date and detailed account of our knowledge of nanobiotechnology
and innumerable applications of microbes.
I wish to thank Dr. Eric Stannard, Senior Editor, Springer; Mr. Rahul Sharma,
Project Coordinator, Springer Nature, for generous assistance, constant support, and
patience in initializing the volume. I give special thanks to my exquisite wife
Dr. Avita for her constant support and motivation in putting everything together.
ix
x Preface
I am in particular very thankful to Honorable Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. Sanjeev
Kumar Sharma, Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Bihar for constant encourage-
ment. I am also grateful to my esteemed friends and well-wishers and all faculty
colleagues of the School of Life Sciences and Department of Botany and
Biotechnology, India.
Motihari, Bihar, India Ram Prasad
