Exploring the ct-DNA and plasmid DNA binding affinity of the biogenic synthesized Chloroxine-conjugated silver nanoflowers: Spectroscopic and gel electrophoresis methods

Resistance to antibiotics is a public health issue, and the identification of new antibacterial agents is one of the most important goals of pharmacological research. The medicinal plants-mediated AgNP-antibiotic or AgNP-antibacterial conjugates show excellent antimicrobial efficiency against viruses, bacteria, and other microorganisms. The Chloroxine-conjugated silver nanoflowers (COX-AgNPs) through Echinophora platyloba DC. Extract mediated synthesis that exhibited significant antibacterial activity was utilized in this research. In this investigation, the interaction of COX-AgNPs with ct-DNA and plasmid DNA was investigated employing different spectroscopic and gel electrophoresis methods. We found that the mode of ct-DNA-COX-AgNPs interaction is partial intercalation. Meanwhile, the gel electrophoresis result implied COX-AgNPs are able to perform cleavage of the plasmid DNA. Consequently, plasmid DNA binding and cleavage might be one of the antibacterial mechanisms of COX-AgNPs.