Bactericidal activity of elastin-like polypeptide biopolymer with polyhistidine domain and silver
In the present study, elastin-like biopolymer (ELP) composed of a polyhistidine domain has been investigated
as a silver binding agent for antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, a model test strain
for Gram-negative bacteria for antibacterial assays of nanoparticles, and Vibrio harveyi, an opportunistic
pathogen which cause mass mortality in shrimp Penaeus monodon reared in coastal aquaculture. The
concentration dependent antimicrobial activity of ELPH-Ag on E. coli and V. harveyi was examined by agar
well diffusion method and further confirmed through growth curves using spectrophotometer assisted
absorption observations. The increased concentrations of ELP-Ag effectively checked the bacterial growth
and increased the diameter of inhibition zone. The results showed a minimum inhibitory concentration
of 37 g/ml. This study has an application in formulating artificial protein based antibacterial in diverse
fields of healthcare and management of disease in coastal aquaculture.