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Aqueous extract of Opuntia ficus-indica (OF) was employed to reduce salt solutions of silver nitrate, gold chloride and silver nitrate/gold chloride to OFAgNPs, OFAuNPs, and OFAg-AuNPs respectively. Characterization of the particles was carried out using different standard methods, and their antimicrobial and antioxidant activities were also evaluated. The UV-vis spectroscopy showed silver, gold and silver-gold alloys nanoparticles with surface plasmon resonance at 462, 545 and 539 nm, respectively. The significant FTIR peaks: OFAgNPs (3300 and 1635 cm−1), OFAuNPs (3288 and 1635 cm−1) and OFAg-AuNPs (3307 and 1637 cm−1) for synthesized nanoparticles pointed to protein as both capping and stabilizing agent. Generally, particles were spherical with size range of 27-38 nm, 11-28 nm and 15-54 nm for silver, gold and silver-gold alloys nanoparticles respectively. OFAgNPs gave highest antagonistic effects against tested bacteria (35-82%), followed by OFAg-AuNPs (12-75%) and AuNPs (11-48%). The fungal inhibition of 44-70% for OFAgNPs, 42-79% for OFAuNPs and 52-92% for OFAg-AuNPs were obtained. DPPH scavenging activities were obtained as follows: OFAgNPs (52.25–57.50%), OFAuNPs (37.07-59.07%) and OFAg-AuNPs (37.07-63.00%) at tested concentrations of 20–100 µg/ml, which were dose-dependent in comparison with standard BHA (42.57–91.27%) and ascorbic acid (52.13–84.20%). The bleaching inhibition assay of ABTS showed activities of 41.33–61.83% (OFAgNPs), 27.37-50.60% (OFAuNPs) and 32.83-44.33% (OFAg-AuNPs). The synthesized nanoparticles demonstrated an excellent antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. The current study, to the best of our knowledge, is the first time to use Opuntia ficus-indica to synthesize silver, gold and silver-gold alloys nanoparticles.

Fungi have great prospects for synthesis, applications and developing new products in nanotechnology. In recent times, fungi use in nanotechnology is gaining more attention because of the ecological friendly state of their metabolite-mediated nanoparticles, their safety, amenability and applications in diverse fields. The diversity of the metabolites such as enzymes, polysaccharide, polypeptide, protein and other macro-molecules has made fungi a veritable tool for nanoparticles synthesis. Mechanism of fungal nano-biosynthesis from the molecular perspective has been extensively studied through various investigations on its green synthesized metal nanoparticles. Fungal nanobiotechnology has been applied in agricultural, medical and industrial sectors for goods and services improvement and delivery to mankind. Agriculturally, it has found applications in plant disease management and production of environmentally friendly, non-toxic insecticides, fungicides to enhance agricultural production in general. Medically, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, especially of microbial origin have been improved with fungal nanoparticles through more efficient drug delivery systems with great benefits to pharmaceutical industries. This review therefore explored fungal nanobiotechnology; mechanism of synthesis, characterization and potential applications in various fields of human endeavours for goods and services delivery.

Ganoderma lucidum is a well-known medicinal mushroom that has been used for the prevention and treatment of different ailments to enhance longevity and health specifically in China, Japan, and Korea. It was known as “God’s herb” in ancient China as it was believed to prolong life, enhance the youthful spirit and sustain/preserve vitality. G. lucidum is seldom collected from nature and is substantially cultivated on wood logs and sawdust in plastic bags or bottles to meet the international market demand. Both in vitro and in vivo studies on the copious metabolic activities of G. lucidum have been carried out. Varied groups of chemical compounds including triterpenoids, polysaccharides, proteins, amino acids, nucleosides, alkaloids, steroids, lactones, lectins, fatty acids, and enzymes with potent pharmacological activities have been isolated from the mycelia and fruiting bodies of G. lucidum. Several researchers have reported the abundance and diversification of its biological actions triggered by these chemical compounds. Triterpenoids and polysaccharides of G. lucidum have been reported to possess cytotoxic, hepatoprotective, antihypertensive, hypocholesterolemic, antihistaminic effects, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic antiallergic, neuroprotective, antitumor, immunomodulatory and antiangiogenic activities. Various formulations have been developed, patented, and utilized as nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, and pharmaceuticals from G. lucidum extracts and active compounds. Thus, this review presents current updates on emerging infectious diseases and highlights the scope, dynamics, and advances in infectious disease management with a particular focus on Ganoderma lucidum, an unutilized natural medicine as a promising future solution to emerging diseases in Africa. However, details such as the chemical compound and mode of action of each bioactive against different emerging diseases were not discussed in this study.

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