• Evaluation the effect of ZnO nanoparticle derived Bacillus subtilis on the expression of efflux pump genes (AdeB AdeRS) in Acinetobacter baumannii
  • Fatemeh Saleh,1,* Farnaz Kheirandish,2 Farzaneh Hosseini,3 Fatemeh Yazdian,4 Atefeh Mirderikvand,5
    1. Razi Herbal Medicine Research Center, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran
    2. Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran, Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran
    3. Department of Microbiology, Islamic Azad University, Tehran North Branch, Tehran, Iran
    4. Faculty of New sciences and Technologies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
    5. Razi Herbal Medicine Research Center, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran


  • Introduction: Green approach to the nanoparticles, including metal oxides due to inevitable disadvantages of physical or chemical synthesis routes is attractive nowadays. Zink oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles play a key role in the medical and pharmaceutical fields. This research aimed to study the biologically synthesized ZnO nanoparticle using Bacillus subtilis, and evaluated its antibacterial properties.
  • Methods: Bacillus subtilis culture in a broth nutrient environment was used, followed by adding the Zinc acetate dehydrate. Biosynthesis of the nanoparticles was confirmed by the XRD, FTIR, and SEM imaging. The antibacterial effects of NPs on the expression of AdeB efflux pump genes and the AdeRS regulator were studied; clinical species of the Acinetobacter baumannii were collected from clinical samples of Khorramabad, using the phenotypic (MIC) and the genotypic methods through real-time PCR.
  • Results: X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD) result showed, that all of the peaks were related to the ZnO, and no other peaks were detected; it also demonstrated nanostructure nature with crystallite size of 25–50 nm. The results indicated, that the antibacterial properties of the nanoparticle increased the AdeRS expression and decreased the AdeB expression in 40% of the A. Baumannii. In addition, there was an increase in the AdeB expression in 60% of the species, indicating an increased probability for mutation.
  • Conclusion: Given the desirable inhibitory effects of biosynthesized ZnO NPs on the expression of AdeB and AdeRS, which play an important role in the pharmaceutical resistance of Acinetobacter species, it seems that ZnO NPs can be used as a medication candidate in pharmaceutical industry in the future.
  • Keywords: Znic oxide nanoparticle . Biological synthesis . Gene regulation . Multiple drug resistance . Real-t