In this study, we presented a green approach in which NMs
contaminated soil resistant bacteria were utilized for
bio-transformation of MWCNTs. The isolated and enriched NMs
resistant bacteria were biochemically and genetically identified
as T. guamensis. Redox-enzyme activity and cell viability test
showed the molecular adaptation of isolated bacteria during
enrichment process under MWCNTs exposure. Further, the resistant
bacteria showed biotransformation/surface oxidation of
MWCNTs through formation of C@O and COOH groups on the outer
walls of nanotubes and increased in oxygen species on surface of
the CNTs. The structural changes such as roughness, distortion
and reduced number of concentric walls of MWCNTs upon interaction
with NM resistant bacteria were also observed. Our results
demonstrated that the bio-transformations of MWCNTs were
induced through oxidation and partial catalytic degradation processes
which were mediated by NMs resistant bacteria. The proposed
approach has a potential to use resistant bacteria for biotransformation
of MWCNTs with new properties that are safe for
industrial applications.