In vitro bacteriophage-mediated synthesis of silver nanoparticles for antibacterial applications and heavy metal detection

[Display omitted] •The novel biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was formed by the phage.•The AgNPs depended mainly on phage’s negatively-charged capsid proteins.•The AgNPs resulted in a uniform particles with a size ranging from 10 to 30 nm.•The biosynthesis AgNPs had shown a promising antibacterial and antibiofilm activity.•The AgNPs showed highly specific and rapid detection for cadmium in water. The risk of multidrug-resistant bacteria and heavy metals contaminating the environment raises a drastic public issue. In this report, we succeeded in introducing a novel synthesis technique of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with antibacterial, anti-biofilm activities and detection of cadmium in water. Furthermore, we managed to reduce silver nitrate (AgNO3) using the capsid structural proteins of bacteriophage, a naturally occurring bacterial virus. The formulated AgNPs were regular in shape and ranged from 10 to 30 nm in size, as indicated from the transmission electron micrographs (TEM). Moreover, the formulated AgNPs highlighted biofilm deformation capabilities against the model bacteria, Staphylococcussciuri. Furthermore, the newly synthesized AgNPs can rapidly sense the heavy metal in a concentration of 100 µM. Thus, this study reveals the outstanding ability of the bacteriophage-mediated synthesis of AgNPs and suggests its promising activity over the traditional synthesis methods.