Nanotechnology science made it possible to find active substances that are applicable to numerous industries and fields including agriculture, biomedical (antimicrobial, antitumor, cytotoxicity, and cosmetics), textiles, heavy metal removal, wastewater treatment, medicine delivery, optoelectronics, and parasitology (Manimegalai et al., 2020; Hamza et al., 2021). Nanoparticles (NPs) have distinct physical, chemical, and structural characteristics, like their sizes, shapes, surface charges, stability, compatibility, and the proportion of their small size to their enormously surface area (Salem and Fouda, 2021). For the synthesis of nanomaterials, many researchers are encouraged to use metals, such as gold, silver, etc., owing to their physical and chemical properties (Castillo-Henríquez et al., 2020; Abinaya et al., 2021). However, the costs associated with the physical and chemical processes are higher, hazardous compounds are produced, and harsh synthesis conditions (such as temperature and pressure) are required (Alsharif et al., 2020). Due to these disadvantages, other biological sources including plants and microorganisms (fungi, yeast, bacteria, actinomycetes, and algae) have become widely used (Abdo et al., 2021). In this regard, biosynthesized NPs are utilized because they are environmentally friendly, have rapid effects, are economical, have a high degree of stability, and do not harm public health as much as chemical insecticides do (Athanassiou et al., 2018).

Interestingly, fungi are receiving greater focus than other microbes for producing various Nanoparticles of metallic and metallic oxides (Ammar et al., 2021; Alghuthaymi et al., 2022). This is because fungi can handle a lot of heavy metals, are easy to scale up, make a lot of biomasses, are easy to handle, and aren’t very toxic (Khalil et al., 2021). All these things make them good candidates for making NPs. In this context, Sagar and Ashok (2012) synthesized AgNPs from the supernatants of A. niger. They found that AgNPs were spherical polydispersed particles that varied in size between 1 and 20 nm and were stabilized in solution. In addition, AgNO₃ was reduced by A. flavus F5 producing (AgNPs) which were verified through the creation of a yellowish-brown color (Fouda et al., 2022b). In addition, Majeed et al. (2018) use Penicillium italicum in order to produce AgNPs.

Biosynthesized AgNPs have been employed for their antimicrobial, antioxidative, anticancer, and larvicidal activities (Mistry et al., 2021). AgNPs and their ions have demonstrated efficacy as antibacterial agents versus numerous pathogenic bacteria by which the issue of multi-drug resistance is restricted (Salem et al., 2015; Gahlawat et al., 2016). Due to their size similarity, AgNPs penetrate cell walls and membranes, directly affecting intracellular components. Moreover, the antifungal potential of AgNPs has been assessed. Alhomaidi et al. (2022) showed that AgNPs from Trichoderma harzianum displayed antifungal potential versus Macrophomina phaselina, Fusarium fujikuroi and Rhizoctonia solani under greenhouse conditions. In addition, Xiao et al. (2023) documented the antifungal efficiency of AgNPs versus Curvularia lunata.

In recent years water pollution has become one of the most serious social problems as a result of the widespread use of dangerous chemicals such as organic dyes. In addition to being non-biodegradable, organic dyes pose a toxic effect on both human health and aquatic life. Dye wastes are considered the major environmental pollutants that are carcinogenic and mutagenic to humans (Manzoor and Sharma, 2020). Although both chemical and physical protocols have been established and used recently in order to remediate waste products, they have several disadvantages (Sabouri et al., 2021). Moreover, attempts to combat mosquitoes have gained great attention, particularly using eco-friendly agents such as green synthesized NPs (Athanassiou et al., 2018).

Based on the promising features and applications of AgNPs, this study was designed to screen the endophytic fungus A. luchuensis as a model biological system to synthesize AgNPs. Furthermore, the physical properties and potential applications of AgNPs as antibacterial, antioxidant, photocatalytic, and larvicidal agents were estimated.

Researchers are paying more attention to AgNPs because of their promising activities in numerous fields (Albulym et al., 2021). Consequently, attempts have increased to synthesize AgNPs using different methods. To overcome the limitations of physical and chemical and approaches, it is preferable to use plants, fungi, yeasts, bacteria, and actinomycetes for the green production of metallic NPs (Salem and Fouda, 2021). The myco-synthesized nanoparticles provide a number of benefits versus bacteria since most fungi are simple to handle, require few nutrients, have strong wall-binding capacities, and can take up metals intracellularly (Sanghi and Verma, 2009).

The production of AgNPs from fungal endophytes has a significant application in the biomedical and pharmaceutical fields. Endophytic fungi are biologically significant microorganisms because they can produce novel medicinal compounds, biocontrol agents, and other beneficial products, according to the study’s findings (Kathiresan et al., 2016). In this investigation, the endophytic fungal strain A. luchuensis recovered from the leaves of Dill was assessed for the inhibition of Ag⁺ ions extracellularly to form NPs. The synthesis of AgNPs with fungal filtrate was verified using the SPR; herein, the color transformed from colorless to reddish brown, indicating AgNPs had been synthesized. A color shift resulted from the excitement in the SPR of NPs (Salem et al., 2020). There was a maximum Plasmon absorption band indicating that the AgNPs are round. In this regard, Abdel-Hadi et al. (2014) mentioned that myco-synthesized AgNPs by A. terreus displayed a SPR band at 425 nm. Moreover, the absorption spectra of AgNP synthesized from the endophytic fungus A. versicolor showed a peak at 429 nm (Netala et al., 2016). In the same data frame, Osorio-Echavarría et al. (2021) recorded that the absorption spectrum of AgNPs was detected at 430 nm by using fungus Anamorphous bjerkandera sp. On the other hand, Devi and Joshi (2015) reported that biosynthesized AgNPs from the endophytic fungus Cladosporium cladosporioides exhibited an absorption spectrum of 440 nm. According to the previous reports, a successful synthesis of AgNPs is indicated by the noted SPR peak within the scope of 400–460 nm (Dong et al., 2017).

According to the current investigation, the metabolic products of A. luchuensis have the ability to reduce or “cap” AgNO₃ and make spherical AgNPs that are well distributed. In addition, Elsayed et al. (2018) synthesized spherical AgNPs with sizes range of 3–20 nm by using A. niger NRC1731 biomass filtrate. Furthermore, the particle sizes of AgNPs synthesized from A. fumigatus range from 5 to 25 nm (Bhainsa and D'souza, 2006). It was reported that the white-rot fungus Bjerkandera sp. was able to generate spherical AgNPs with a size range of 10–30 nm (Osorio-Echavarría et al., 2021). In contrast, Li et al. (2011) was able to effectively generate well-dispersed, spherical AgNPs with a mean size of 4.3 nm by using the metabolites of A. terreus.

Furthermore, the FTIR results assured the existence of bioactive compounds, including amino acids, carboxylates, alkenes, and carbohydrates, which have previously been suggested as potential reducing agents for the generation of metal and metal oxide NPs (Fouda et al., 2022b). According to Vanaja et al. (2013), the amine and carboxylic groups are functional ingredients implicated in the reduction of Ag⁺ ions. The FTIR absorption peak appears to be related to the reduction of Ag⁺ ions, indicating the chemical purity of AgNPs.

The charge that is found on the nanoparticles’ surface determines the electrostatic repulsive force between them. In the current work, the obtained data from the zeta potential assay indicated that myco-synthesized AgNPs have a negative charge. This agrees with the data obtained from Balakumaran et al. (2016), who found the −ve zeta potential of myco-synthesized AgNPs by A. terreus. This −ve value might be due to the existence of the reducing contents in the fungal cell filtrate, which exhibits electrostatic forces in green-synthesized NPs (Nasrollahzadeh and Sajadi, 2016).

It has been reported that secondary metabolites are necessary for reducing AgNO₃ to AgNPs and are vital for optimizing the morphology and stability of the AgNPs. Furthermore, the presence of metallic Ag was emphasized by EDX; thereby, the AgNPs biosynthesis was successfully liberated. EDX spectrum shows other peaks which indicates that biomolecules were bound to the surface of AgNPs during the process (Ravichandran et al., 2019). It was emphasized that metallic Ag nanocrystals typically appear at 3.0 keV in EDAX analysis because of their SPR (Devi and Joshi, 2015). In keeping with the consequences, Othman et al. (2019) mentioned that AgNPs synthesized from A. fumigatus displayed strong signal energy peaks similar to ours.

Antioxidants are effective in preventing free radicals formation, which causes several disorders (Dharmaraja, 2017). Antioxidants have been considered therapeutic agents due to their anticancer, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic, and anti-atherosclerotic traits. The DPPH assay indicated that AgNPs had strong antioxidant properties, and their ability to scavenge radicals increased as concentration increased. Our findings validate previous reports regarding the antioxidant characteristics of Ag-NPs (Hulikere and Joshi, 2019).

Nearly most of pathogenic microorganisms have grown resistant to every kind of antibiotic that is currently used (Teixeira et al., 2018). Previously, the antimicrobial activity of the biosynthesized AgNPs was formerly recorded (Elbahnasawy et al., 2021; Sudarsan et al., 2021). In the present work, the inhibitory effect of myco-synthesized AgNPs was tested against a variety of pathogenic isolates using the agar well diffusion assay. Results indicated that AgNPs fabricated by A. luchuensis had promising antimicrobial potential versus pathogenic bacterial and fungal strains. AgNPs are typically observed to be more efficient against Gram-negative bacteria as opposed to Gram-positive bacteria that could be due to differences in the composition of the cell wall. Gram-negative bacteria have a thin layer of peptidoglycan that allows the Ag⁺ ions to enter the cell and a lipopolysaccharide layer with a negative charge that attracts Ag⁺ ions, causing enhanced absorption and breaking down the cell wall (Vanaja et al., 2013).

Our findings are in coincidence with the data obtained by Netala et al. (2016), who reported that AgNPs synthesized from Cladosporium displayed strong inhibition to Gram-negative compared to Gram-positive bacteria. Additionally, Shahzad et al. (2019) found that synthesized AgNPs displayed antibacterial potential versus multidrug-resistant bacterial strains, notably K. pneumoniae BTCB04, Acinetobacter BTCB05, P. aeruginosa BTCB01, and E. coli BTCB03, while a maximum 7-fold increase was observed with Acinetobacter BTCB05. Mahitha et al. (2011) demonstrated the antibacterial efficacy of AgNPs against Gram +ve (B. subtilis, S. aureus) and Gram −ve (E. coli, K. pneumoniae) bacteria. Huang et al. (2007) documented that AgNPs ranging in size from 10 to 25 nm are potent against pathogenic microbes. Shrivastava et al. (2007) performed research on the antimicrobial potential of AgNPs. It was reported that AgNPs from Alternaria sp. are effective against MDR strains (Baker et al., 2021).

Moreover, our data showed that the myco-synthesized AgNPs displayed antifungal potential, as estimated by the agar-well diffusion assay, versus A. brasinsilles, C. albicans, A. alternata, A. flavus, and F. oxysprum, respectively. Our data are in parallel with the those explained by Wang et al. (2021), who tested the antifungal efficacy of myco-synthesized AgNPs from A. sydowii versus many clinical pathogenic fungi, including C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. parapsilosis, C. tropicalis, F. solani, F. moniliforme, F. oxysporum, A. favus, A. fumigatus, A. terreus, Sporothrix schenckii, and C. neoformans. The biosynthesized AgNPs, from A. fumigatus DSM819 CFF, displayed antimicrobial potential toward the pathogenic microorganisms. In other studies by Baker et al. (2021) they evaluated the antifungal activity of AgNPs from Alternaria sp. versus fungal strains, including A. niger, A. flavus, F. oxysporum, and T. viridens.

Based on the research findings, the suggested antimicrobial traits of AgNPs are depicted in Figure 9. AgNPs release Ag⁺ ions that gather on the microbial cell wall and plasma membrane and then in the cytoplasm involved in the formation of ROS inside the cell. ROS are the main agent for antimicrobial potential and involve inhibition of DNA synthesis, damage in the cell membrane, and constituent leakage, suppression of the production of proteins, mitochondrial dysfunction, and inhibition of the electron transport chain followed by cell lysis (Jain et al., 2021).

Bhakya et al. (2015) stated that nanocatalysts’ surface area is the key component that determines how well they work as catalysts, since the reactions happen on the surface. Smaller sizes and a high surface area are characteristics of nanocatalysts. As a result, reducing the size of the NPs will enhance catalytic (Saied et al., 2021). The catalytic property of AgNPs is indicated by the degradation of safranin dye. Under light irradiation, the catalytic effectiveness was attained at various contact times. It was found that the decolorization percentage enhanced along with the time increase. Our findings are in agreement with (Fouda et al., 2022b), who showed that AgNPs from A. flavus exhibited high photocatalytic efficacy in degrading MB dye. Furthermore, AgNPs synthesized using Saussurea costus extract effectively degraded the safranin dye (Abd El-Aziz et al., 2021). After exposure to light, electrons are triggered from the valence band (VB) to the conducting band (CB), forming electron–hole pairs [Ag (e⁻_CB and h⁺_VB)]. The h⁺_VB reacts with H₂O, creating hydroxyl radicals ( ^• OH) and H⁺, while the e⁻_CB reduces O₂, producing ^• O₂⁻ (superoxide radicals) and ^• OOH (hydrogen peroxide radicals). Eventually, the active radical species ( ^• OH, ^• O₂⁻, and ^•OOH) reacted with safranin, contributing to increased dye degradation. Fouda et al. (2022b) claimed that the photocatalytic efficacy of NPs may be due to photogenerated holes (that undergo oxidation conditions to form hydroxyl radicals) and electrons that react with molecular oxygen to form oxygen anion radicals, resulting in a complete destruction of dyes to CO₂, H₂O, and small ions. The present work emphasized the potent antimicrobial and catalytic activity of myco-synthesized AgNPs. Consequently, the advantage of this phenomena is the ability to obtain wastewater that is devoid of microbes and dyes, allowing for safe reuse or release into the ecosystem (see Figure 10).

In the present investigation, the larvicidal potential of A. luchuensis cell-free filtrate, spores suspensions, and biosynthesized AgNPs were tested versus 3^rd instar larvae of Cx. pipiens. They showed low to strong insecticidal effects versus Cx. pipiens, after various intervals of exposure. Data revealed that biosynthesized AgNPs were the most efficient against Cx. pipiens larvae than fungal spore’s suspension and fungal cell-free filtrate. Microorganisms, like fungi, bacteria, and protozoa, are included in the biological systems used against mosquitoes and other medical pests (Hegazy et al., 2022; Katak et al., 2023). The present results indicate a positive relationship between mortality rate, biosynthesized AgNPs, and dose level, as stated by Sowndarya et al. (2017). In a similar work, the effectiveness of AgNPs synthesized from F. oxysporum against Aedes mosquito larvae was shown. The authors showed that F. oxysporum NPs had promising antibiological activity by killing Aedes larvae (Sumera et al., 2021). NPs’ larvicidal potential could be explained by the denaturation of sulfur-containing proteins and phosphorus-containing compounds, which results in the denaturation of organelles and enzymes. Consequently, cellular membrane permeability is reduced and ATP synthesis is reduced, leading to the death of cells and their lack of function (Shankar et al., 2004).

Only 5% of pesticides used worldwide are biopesticides, notwithstanding their effectiveness as insecticides (Kumar et al., 2021; Rakshit et al., 2021). But biopesticides are growing quickly and are expected to overtake chemical pesticides soon, with an average annual growth rate of 9–20% (Lahlali et al., 2022). This is because biopesticides have unique qualities that make them useful, such as not being harmful to the environment. Fungi have already been used in conjunction with other approaches to suppress vector mosquitoes (Cafarchia et al., 2022). In a recent study, antiparasitic activity was found in 152 of the tested fungi, which is 17.7%. Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, Neocosmopora, and Thricoderma had the strongest effects (Toghueo et al., 2019). Vivekanandhan et al. (2023) have documented that A. niger crude and purified extracellular extracts have larvicidal efficacy toward Ae. Aegypti, An. stephensi, and Cx. quinquefasciatus.

In addition, it becomes clear to us the power of AgNPs and their ability to improve the effectiveness of the biological component in killing mosquito larvae (Thelma and Balasubramanian, 2021; Shukla et al., 2022). Aside from their environmental friendliness, cost-effectiveness, and target-specific sensitivity, green synthetic nanoparticles have recently been at the forefront of efforts to develop a safe insecticide.

In the present work, AgNPs were synthesized in an eco-friendly manner by employing a biomass filtrate containing metabolites of endophytic fungus A. luchuensis. The synthesized AgNPs were characterized by UV–Vis spectrometer, FT-IR, TEM, EDX, and zeta potential. Furthermore, in the biological investigation, the biosynthesized AgNPs exhibited effective antibacterial activity against the studied multidrug-resistant bacteria as well as antifungal efficacy versus the pathogenic fungi. Also, it showed a strong antioxidant potential and their ability to scavenge radicals increased from 33.0 to 85.1% with increments in their concentration from 3.9 to 1,000 μg/mL. Additionally, myco-synthesized AgNPs displayed strong photocatalytic activity in the degradation of safranin dye. Surprisingly the biosynthesized AgNPs exhibited promising anti-insect properties against 3rd larval instar of Cx. pipiens. It is possible to deduce from the collected data the prospective applications of AgNPs synthesized using a green approach across multiple fields.

The data presented in the study are deposited in GenBank under the accession number (PP315916).

The insect study was approved by Ethics Committee of Faculty of Science, Benha University (Code: BUFS-REC-2024-105 Bot). The study was conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements.

RA: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. AE: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. ET: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. MB: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. HN: Data curation, Formal analysis, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. AA: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. ME-N: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. KA: Data curation, Formal analysis, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. OM: Data curation, Formal analysis, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. B-DI: Data curation, Formal analysis, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. AK: Data curation, Formal analysis, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing. RA-S: Data curation, Formal analysis, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing. AS: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.