Microbial nanotechnology
is an expanding research area devoted
to producing biogenic metal and metalloid nanomaterials (NMs) using
microorganisms. Often, biogenic NMs are explored as antimicrobial,
anticancer, or antioxidant agents. Yet, most studies focus on their
applications rather than the underlying mechanism of action or toxicity.
Here, we evaluate the toxicity of our well-characterized biogenic
selenium nanoparticles (bSeNPs) produced by the Stenotrophomonas
maltophilia strain SeITE02 against the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae comparing it with chemogenic
SeNPs (cSeNPs). Knowing from previous studies that the biogenic extract
contained bSeNPs in an organic material (OM) and supported here by
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, we removed and incubated
it with cSeNPs (cSeNPs_OM) to assess its influence on the toxicity
of these formulations. Specifically, we focused on the first stages
of the eukaryotic cell exposure to these samplesi.e., their
interaction with the cell lipid membrane, which was mimicked by preparing
vesicles from yeast polar lipid extract or phosphatidylcholine lipids.
Fluidity changes derived from biogenic and chemogenic samples revealed
that the bSeNP extract mediated the overall rigidification of lipid
vesicles, while cSeNPs showed negligible effects. The OM and cSeNPs_OM
induced similar modifications to the bSeNP extract, reiterating the
need to consider the OM influence on the physical–chemical
and biological properties of bSeNP extracts.