Comprehensive assessment of gold nanorod-induced genotoxicity using multi-model biological systems

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Comprehensive assessment of gold nanorod-induced genotoxicity using multi-model biological systems

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

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Abstract

Using a variety of biological models, including human cell lines, Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae haploid knockout (YKO) strains, this study aimed to examine the genotoxic effects of gold nanorods (AuNRs). Salmonella and E. coli strains will be cultivated on LB agar plates and incubated for 16 h at 37 °C to perform bacterial tests. The cultures will be subjected to varying quantities of AuNRs after incubation. The comet test will be used to assess the degree of DNA damage in these bacterial strains. Likewise, haploid knockout strains of S. cerevisiae will be grown on YPD plates and incubated at 37 °C for 24 to 48 h before being exposed to different doses of AuNRs for the yeast model. Following treatment, the comet assay will also be used to evaluate DNA damage in yeast cells. The GeneMANIA platform, which offers functional association data to help the interpretation of the genetic findings, will be used to predict protein-protein interaction networks. The HepG2 liver cancer cell line’s expression levels of cancer-related genes will also be examined using real-time PCR. Particular attention was paid to the p53, Bax, and Bcl-2 genes, which are homologous to the chosen yeast genotypes. Findings and outcomes: When compared to untreated control groups, the comet assay findings for both yeast and bacterial cells showed increased tail length, tail DNA percentage, and tail moment, indicating severe DNA damage (P < 0.05). According to a gene expression study, Bcl-2 expression was significantly downregulated, whereas p53 and Bax transcripts were upregulated after being exposed to AuNRs. Analysis of protein-protein interactions provided additional information about the functional arrangement of related proteins. Overall, the results indicate that gold nanorods have genotoxic qualities and lower malignant cell viability.

Data availability

Data availabilityThe datasets and code generated and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Certain data supporting the findings of this study were obtained from Thermo Fisher Scientific, and restrictions apply to their availability. These datasets were used under license and are not publicly accessible. Access to these data may be granted by the authors upon reasonable request and with permission from Thermo Fisher Scientific. All experimental data were generated using microbial strains, yeast knockout models, and the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG2, none of which involve personally identifiable information. The HepG2 cell line was obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), Manassas, Virginia, USA. Yeast deletion strains (YKO collection) were accessed via Thermo Fisher Scientific at: https://www.thermofisher.com/order/catalog/product/. Gene information and sequences were retrieved from the Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD): https://www.yeastgenome.org. Protein-protein interaction networks were predicted using the GeneMANIA platform: http://www.genemania.org.

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Funding

Open access funding provided by The Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority (STDF) in cooperation with The Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB). The Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority (STDF) and the Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB) collaborated to provide open access funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Microbial Genetics Department, Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Centre, (NRC), Giza, Egypt

    Shimaa E. Rashad & Abdelhamid A. Haggran

  2. Animal Reproduction Department, Veterinary Research Institute, National Research Centre (NRC), Giza, Egypt

    Ahmed Sabry S. Abdoon

Authors

  1. Shimaa E. Rashad
  2. Abdelhamid A. Haggran
  3. Ahmed Sabry S. Abdoon

Contributions

A.S. and S.E.R. conceptualization of the study; S.E.R. acquired funding; S.E.R. collected data, evaluated, performed statistical analysis, and conducted the experiments; S.E.R. manuscript and manuscript correcting; All authors are reviewing the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shimaa E. Rashad.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Rashad, S.E., Haggran, A.A. & Abdoon, A.S.S. Comprehensive assessment of gold nanorod-induced genotoxicity using multi-model biological systems. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-36119-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-36119-8

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