Determination of nanoparticle synthesis capabilities of cyanobacteria

Synthesis of nanoparticles using biological molecules has become one of the current research areas due to reasons such as high toxic content of nanoparticles synthesized by physical and chemical technologies, poor stability and expensive production technologies. With the approach called green synthesis, nanoparticles that do not contain toxic substances have been produced with a method that does not harm the environment and human health. Biosynthesized nanoparticles can be used in applications such as targeted drug delivery, cancer therapy, gene therapy, antibacterial agent, DNA analysis, since they are non-toxic and biocompatible. Cyanobacteria are seen as promising organisms in terms of nanoparticle production. In this study, it was aimed to synthesize silver nanoparticles from cyanobacterium isolate and to determine the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of the synthesized silver nanoparticles. For this purpose, firstly water samples were taken from Tersakan Stream located within the boundaries of Amasya province. Cyanobacterium isolate was obtained as a result of the purification process from the water samples taken. Species identification was made by sequencing the 16S rRNA ITS gene region. The species isolated as a result of the sequence analysis was defined as Leptolyngbya boryana NIES-2135 with a similarity rate of 99.93%. After the cultivation of the species, silver nanoparticles were synthesized by green synthesis method using its aqueous extracts. The synthesized silver nanoparticles were visualized with a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) device (JEOL JEM 1220 TEM Device). It has been determined that their shapes are mostly round and the size distribution is 40-200 nm. Antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of the synthesized nanoparticles were determined.