Biological synthesis of cationic gold nanoparticles and binding of plasmid DNA

Nanobiotechnology is the development of eco-friendly experimental processes for the synthesis of nanomaterials. The present work focuses on synthesis of cationic gold nanoparticles (C-GNPs) for biological applications, especially in gene and drug delivery studies. A biosynthesis methodology has been developed for the functionalization of gold nanoparticles to cationic nature. The synthesis of C-GNPs was done by using peanut leaf extract in the presence of cysteamine. The formed C-GNPs were characterized by using UV–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), the particles sizes and shapes were confirmed by a Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and crystallinity of C-GNPs was characterized by diffraction. The binding of plasmid DNA on the C-GNPs was confirmed by agarose gel electrophoresis. •A biosynthesis methodology has been developed for the functionalization of gold nanoparticles to cationic nature.•Binding of plasmid DNA to the formed gold nanoparticles.•The formed cationic gold nanoparticles uphold the applications in gene delivery.