Biofunctionalized Nano--antimicrobials -- Progress, Prospects and Challenges

The rapid emergence of multidrug--resistant bacterial strains highlights the need for the development of new antimicrobial compounds/materials to address associated healthcare challenges. Meanwhile, the adverse side effects of conventional antibiotics on human health urge the development of new natural product--based antimicrobials to minimize the side effects. In this respect, we concisely review the recent scientific contributions to develop natural product--based nano--antibiotics. The focus of the review is on the use of flavonoids, peptides, and cationic biopolymer functionalized metal/metal oxide nanoparticles as efficient tools to hit the MDR bacterial strains. It summarizes the most recent aspects of the functionalized nanoparticles against various pathogenic bacterial strains for their minimal inhibitory concentrations and mechanism of action at the cellular and molecular levels. In the end, the future perspectives to materialize the in vivo applications of nano--antimicrobials are suggested based on the available research.