Impact of nanoparticles on the Bacillus subtilis (3610) competence.

ABSTRACT: Due to the physicochemical properties of nanoparticles, the use of nanomaterials increases every year in industrial and medical processes. At the same time, the increasing number of bacteria becoming resistant to many antibiotics, mostly by a horizontal gene transfer process, is a major public health concern. We herein report, for the first time, the role of nanoparticles in the physiological induction of horizontal gene transfer in bacteria. Besides the most well-known impacts of nanoparticles on bacteria, i.e. death or oxidative stress, two nanoparticles, n-ZnO and n-TiO₂, significantly and oppositely impact the transformation efficiency of Bacillus subtilis in biofilm growth conditions, by modification of the physiological processes involved in the induction of competence, th

SUBMITTER: Eymard-Vernain E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5813000 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature