Antifungal activity of zinc oxide nanoparticles against Botrytis cinerea and Penicillium expansum

Abstract

Antifungal activities of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) and their mode of action against two postharvest pathogenic fungi (Botrytis cinerea and Penicillium expansum) were investigated in this study. ZnO NPs with sizes of 70 ± 15 nm and concentrations of 0, 3, 6 and 12 mmol l(-1) were used. Traditional microbiological plating, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Raman spectroscopy were used to study antifungal activities of ZnO NPs and to characterize the changes in morphology and cellular compositions of fungal hyphae treated with ZnO NPs. Results show that ZnO NPs at concentrations greater than 3 mmol l(-1) can significantly inhibit the growth of B. cinerea and P. expansum. P. expansum was more sensitive to the treatment with ZnO NPs than B. cinerea. SEM images and Raman spectra indicate two different antifungal activities of ZnO NPs against B. cinerea and P. expansum. ZnO NPs inhibited the growth of B. cinerea by affecting cellular functions, which caused deformation in fungal hyphae. In comparison, ZnO NPs prevented the development of conidiophores and conidia of P. expansum, which eventually led to the death of fungal hyphae. These results suggest that ZnO NPs could be used as an effective fungicide in agricultural and food safety applications.

Assessing the efficacy of zinc oxide nanoparticles against Penicillium expansum by automated turbidimetric analysis

“…ZnO has already been shown to be effective against filamentous fungi in several studies (Sawai 2003; He et al 2011; Savi et al 2013) using conductimetry and growth diameter measurements. He et al investigated the antifungal effect of ZnO NPs with sizes of 70 ± 15 nm in concentrations ranging from 0 up to 12 mM against P. expansum (He et al 2011). Their results indicated that concentrations of ZnO NPs higher than 3 mM could significantly inhibit the radial growth of P. expansum onto Petri dishes, but no lower concentrations in the range between 0 and 3 mM were investigated.…”

“…Furthermore, cold storage atmosphere by itself does not prevent fruit rot since minimum temperatures for growth of P. expansum have been reported to be as low as −6°C, −3°C and −2°C (Brooks & Hansford 1923; Panasenko 1967; Pitt and Hocking 2009). In order to overcome these issues, it is important to explore novel antifungal agents which may replace current control strategies (He et al 2011). Recently, metal nanoparticles have received increasing attention due to strong antimicrobial properties and low toxicity towards mammalian cells and have been already applied in food preservation, burn dressings, safe cosmetics, medical devices, water treatment and other range of products (Moritz and Geszke-Moritz 2013).…”

“…Amongst the wide range of the currently available metal nanoparticles, zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) possess superior durability, greater selectivity and heat resistance than others (He et al 2011). ZnO in nanoscale found potential applications in food preservation since ZnO NPs have been incorporated in polymeric matrices in order to provide antimicrobial activity to the packaging material (Espitia et al 2012).…”

Comparison of Antifungal Properties of Acrylic Resin Reinforced with ZnO and Ag Nanoparticles

“…24 The mechanisms of killing the fungi by ZnO NPs in different species is different, as it can alter the cellular function that result in deformation of fungal hyphae from one side and also it can disturb in development of conidia and conidiaphores and killing of hyphae. 25 One study claimed both nano and bulk ZnO showed comparable toxicity to yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (8-h EC50 121-134 mg ZnO/l and 24-h EC50 131-158 mg/l respectively), 26 whenever it was shown the bulk form of ZnO is more less effective to C. Albicans and other fungi in comparison to MgO, CaO and ZnO NPs could well inhibit the growth of fungi consisted of C. Albicans. 27,28 The synergism of antifungal and antioxidant effects of ZnO NPs that enhances antifungal effect of these NPs material is the other subject of discussion in the literature.…”

Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using Azadirachta indica A. Juss. leaves extract and its antibacterial activity against Xanthomonas orzyae pv. oryzae

“…Among different types of nanoparticles, zinc oxide nanoparticles have extensive applications in cosmetics and sunscreen lotions because of their efficient UV-A and UV-B absorption properties without scattering visible light (Schilling et al, 2010). Zinc oxide nanoparticles possess excellent antimicrobial (Jin et al, 2009;Gerloff et al, 2012;), and anticancer properties (He et al, 2011) and also used in agriculture (Rasmussen et al, 2010).…”