Potential of metabolic engineering in bacterial nanosilver synthesis

The widespread applications of silver nanoparticles in present days demand an industrial-scale production process. The ability of bacteria to synthesise silver nanoparticles can be exploited to overcome many shortcomings associated with conventional production processes, such as high cost and nanoparticle toxicity. However, lack of a standardised protocol and suboptimal yield remain a major obstacle for bacterial synthesis route. A potential, yet unexplored, solution to this problem could be envisioned through rewiring of the metabolic network to direct cellular resources towards the product of interest. Mathematical modelling of metabolic pathway is the key to understand and manipulate the cellular metabolism for enhanced production of desired metabolite(s). The present study provides a perspective on the scope of metabolic engineering approaches to enhance bacterial synthesis of silver nanoparticles.