AUTHOR=Shen Yunqiu , Zheng Chaochuan , Wu Qiaoli , Wu Qilong , Jin Ming , Jiang Yayun , Huang Fuyuan , Lou Yongliang , Zheng Laibao 

TITLE=One-step synthesized antimicrobial peptide-functionalized gold nanoclusters for selective imaging and killing of pathogenic bacteria

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1003359

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2022.1003359

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=The development of multifunctional nanomaterials with bacteria imaging and killing is of great importance for the rapid diagnostic and timely treatment of bacterial infections. Herein, CWR11-AuNCs with high-intensity red fluorescence were successfully synthesized using a one-step method using CWR11 as a template through optimizing the ratio of CWR11 to HAuCl4, reaction time, pH and temperature. CWR11-AuNCs exhibited bacterial binding and selective imaging properties by fluorescence microscopy, which is expected to provide a feasible method for imaging and locating bacteria in complex environments in vivo. Besides, CWR11-AuNCs not only retained the antibacterial and bactericidal activities of CWR11, but also exhibited certain inhibitory or killing effects on Gram-negative，Gram-positive and biofilms. The MICs of CWR11-AuNCs against E. coli and S. aureus were 178 and 89 μg/mL respectively. For cytotoxicity, surprisingly, the cell viability of the CWR11-AuNCs treated group was 1.65 times that of the CWR11-treated group, and the low cytotoxicity exhibited by CWR11-AuNCs made them more promising for clinical applications.