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Preparation of silicon quantum dot–protein complex and application in antibacterial, antibiofilm, and bacterial cell imaging

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Abstract

Bacterial and biofilm infections pose great challenges to clinical treatments. This study reports the application of long-wavelength-emitting silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) as antibacterial and antibiofilm agents, and for multi-colored bacterial imaging. Several SiQDs–protein complexes were prepared and screened to obtain high-efficient antibacterial nanocomplex, and SiQDs–polylysin (SiQDs–PLL) exhibited the best antibacterial behavior with minimum inhibitory concentration values against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) at 10 and 15.62 μg mL−1, respectively, superior to the ability of pure SiQDs. Compared to Cu2+ and Mn2+, Zn2+ combined with SiQDs–PLL also showed enhanced antibacterial activity because of the synergistic effect. Furthermore, compared to SiQDs, SiQDs–PLL showed an excellent inhibitory effect against the S. aureus biofilm, by completely inhibiting its growth and achieving 62.13% biofilm removal rate at the concentrations of 60 and 200 μg mL−1, respectively. The antibacterial mechanisms of SiQDs and SiQDs–PLL were explored: SiQDs and SiQDs–PLL exerted antibacterial effects by destroying the bacterial cell membrane and promoting the leakage of cell content (DNA and RNA), thus exhibiting the potential as ideal candidates as antimicrobial agents in clinical settings. SiQDs and SiQDs–PLL also exhibit potential in bacterial imaging due to their excellent optical properties and low cytotoxicity.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was funded by the Fundamental Research Funds for South-Central Minzu University (CZY22003), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (2197832), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81703464).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, South-Central Minzu University, Wuhan, 430074, People’s Republic of China

    Dan Zhao, Yan Jiao, Huan Liu, Xiaoyun Li, Mengyu Xu, Xincai Xiao & Haiyan Zhao

  2. National Demonstration Center for Experimental Ethnopharmacology Education (South-Central Minzu University), Wuhan, 430065, People’s Republic of China

    Dan Zhao, Yan Jiao, Huan Liu, Xiaoyun Li, Mengyu Xu, Xincai Xiao & Haiyan Zhao

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  1. Dan Zhao
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  2. Yan Jiao
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  3. Huan Liu
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  4. Xiaoyun Li
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  5. Mengyu Xu
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  6. Xincai Xiao
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Contributions

Dan Zhao was involved in writing—original draft, writing—review & editing. Yan Jiao helped in formal analysis, investigation, data curation. Huan Liu contributed to investigation. Xiaoyun Li assisted in investigation. Mengyu Xu assisted in investigation. Xincai Xiao and Haiyan Zhao helped in conceptualization and validation.

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Correspondence to Dan Zhao or Haiyan Zhao.

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Zhao, D., Jiao, Y., Liu, H. et al. Preparation of silicon quantum dot–protein complex and application in antibacterial, antibiofilm, and bacterial cell imaging. J Mater Sci 59, 6946–6964 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-024-09622-4

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