Synthesis of functional metal nano particles based on bacterial metal metabolism

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Metallic nanoparticles have huge potentials in nanotechnology. In this study, we attempted to develop the novel methods for metallic nanoparticles by using microorganisms. We have isolated a novel strain of Pseudomonas species, which produces nano-sized silver particles in the presence of silver nitrate at moderate temperatures, suggesting that this strain has an unique mechanism for metallic nanoparticle synthesis. In order to develop the efficient nano particle synthesis, we also analyzed the iron-respiratory mechanism of a psychrotrophic bacterium, Shewanella livingstonensis Ac10, which has flexible metal respiratory system at anaerobic conditions. Only when grown with divalent iron (ferric citrate), this strain produces a homolog of a phosphate selective porn, PhoE. In the presence of ferric citrate, a gene-disrupted mutant of phoE showed growth retardation, indicating that PhoE has an important role in iron-respiration mechanism of this strain.