as important medicinal molecules. A target-specific LP-NP molecule can result in

efficient drug delivery, e.g. lipopeptide NPs are among the most potent NPs for the

transfer of selective siRNA delivery in non-human primates and rodents. siRNA

therapeutic is used for the treatment genetic disorders. Encoding of this siRNA on to

the nanoparticle structure of lipopeptide ensures its target drug delivery up to the

point of genetic disorder. Antimicrobial properties of the LPs can be explored in to

make a target-specific drug in association of NPs. There is vast future of possibility

for LP-NP molecules in the medicinal field. In this chapter we will try to address

some ongoing research and a futuristic approach in which LP-NP association can

result as a boon for medical industry.

Keywords

Nanoparticle(s) · Lipopeptide(s) · LP-NP association · Target specificity · Drug

delivery

26.1

Introduction

Nanoparticles (NPs) are of size 1–100 nm and can be made from carbon, organic

matter or oxides of different metals (Hasan 2015a, b). All the NPs have ability to

show distinguished biological, chemical and physical properties at nanoscale. NPs

exhibit properties like increased reactivity, and stability in a chemical process

enhanced mechanical strength etc. (Smita et al. 2012). These have gathered a greater

attention due to different and interesting properties, applications and inherent

advantages over their bulk counterparts. NPs are of different shape and sizes like

zero-dimensional, e.g. nanodots; one-dimensional, e.g. graphene; two-dimensional,

e.g. carbon nanotubes; and three-dimensional, e.g. gold nanoparticles. They can be

hollow core, cylindrical, spherical, conical, tubular, spiral, flat or even irregular in

their shape (Machado et al. 2015). They also differ in structure which can range from

amorphous to crystalline with one or more crystals (Ealia and Saravanakuma 2017;

Hasan 2015a, b). NPs have biomedical applications, and thus the eco-friendly and

non-toxic methods should be used for their synthesis. The preferable way to synthe-

size NPs is by using microorganisms, which is the most superior method as well as

highly cost-effective (Zhang et al. 2011). Use of microorganisms to produce NPs has

many advantages like energy efficiency and environmental friendliness, and also

such produced NPs can be used to perform functions like drug carrier for target

delivery, gene therapy, DNA analysis, biosensor and MRI (Li et al. 2011). Thus, it

can be said that different microorganisms play a vast role in production of industri-

ally important NPs. Taking this into consideration, the present article includes an

overview of NPs, use of various microorganisms (especially bacteria) in production

of different kind of NPs and their applications.

The design of antimicrobial lipopeptide (LP) drug carriers is of great interest in

treatment of various microbial infections. LPs are low-molecular mass bioactive

molecules which contain a lipid molecule connected to a peptide chain. These are

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