Publication Date: 2025
BioNanoScience (21911630)15(3)
Streptococci and Staphylococci are pathogenic agents that cause antibiotic-resistant infections through biofilm formation. Therefore, researchers are seeking alternative methods to combat antibiotic-resistant infections. This study aimed to compare the anti-biofilm effect of an aptamer-silver nanoparticle complex (Apt-AgNP) on Streptococci and Staphylococci. In the in silico studies, the physicochemical properties and secondary and tertiary structures of the selected bacterial surface proteins were compared and validated using ProtParam, GOR IV, SWISS-MODEL, Phyre2, I-TASSER, and GalaxyWEB servers. Aptamer binding to proteins was performed using molecular docking with HDock and ZDock servers. In the in vitro experiments, silver nanoparticles were synthesized and then attached to biotinylated AptBH via streptavidin. The anti-biofilm effect of Apt-AgNP on Streptococci and Staphylococci was compared with that of silver nanoparticles alone. For the characterization of silver nanoparticles and Apt-AgNP, XRD, FESEM, DLS, and zeta potential tests were used. The in silico results showed that aptamer docking with staphylococcal surface proteins yielded high binding scores, with the best results of − 310.74 for S. aureus and − 300.76 for S. epidermidis on the HDock server. Characterization results confirmed the spherical shape of the silver nanoparticles with a size of approximately 80 nm and their successful attachment to the aptamer. The Apt-AgNP at a concentration of 400 μg/mL showed a better anti-biofilm effect compared to silver nanoparticles alone. The highest anti-biofilm effect of this complex was observed on Staphylococci (69–72%). Overall, the consistency between in silico and in vitro results demonstrated the potential of this complex in developing new strategies for combating bacterial infections. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025.
