Promising antibacterial activities of anethole and green-synthesized magnetite nanoparticles against multiple antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Abstract

Abstract The emergence of antibiotic resistance is considered a major threat, and this problem is exacerbated due to the excessive use of antibiotics. Therefore, it is necessary to find new antimicrobials that are effective against pathogenic bacteria resistant to existing antimicrobials. This study presents a novel antimicrobial approach for the bio-control of multi-antibiotic-resistant (MAR) bacteria. Ten antibiotic discs were used to evaluate the bacterial sensitivity. Five bacterial strains showed resistance to all the tested antibiotic groups. The following MAR bacterial strains were selected, and their identification was confirmed by 16S rRNA with an accession number on the NCBI: Shigella flexneri MZ350855.1; Klebsiella aerogenes MZ352107.1; Serratia marcescens MZ618709.1; Yersinia enterocolitica MZ673567.1; and Achromobacter denitrificans OK560350.1. Star anise extract (SAE) gives the highest inhibitory efficiency against isolated MAR bacteria between three local plant extracts. SAE was used to synthesize magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) using a simple and eco-friendly green biosynthesis technique. Synthesized MNPs were characterized by X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared, and transmission electron microscopy techniques. The effect of synthesized magnetic nanoparticles for wastewater treatment in bacterial portion demonstrated remarkable bactericidal performance against total bacterial count with a percentage reduction of 84% using 0.05 g, and the efficiency of decreasing heavy metals was estimated.