Transcriptomic Insights on the Fungal Response to Antimicrobial Nanopatterned Surfaces

Nanopatterned surfaces have many unique properties conferred to them by virtue of their nano scale. As methods of nanofabrication have advanced, nanopatterned surfaces are of increasing interest for these properties. Nanopatterned surfaces with antimicrobial effects are one such example. By reducing microbial adhesion or acting with microbicidal efficiency on microbes that adhere on the surface, antimicrobial nanomaterials (AMNs) can confer resistance to biofouling without the use of antimicrobial drugs—which are rapidly losing their effectiveness due to the growing population of drug-resistant microbes. It is unclear what responses, if any, microbes may mount to resist antimicrobial nanofeatures and overcome these multifaceted effects. Understanding how microbes may resist the antimicrobial effects of AMNs to colonize their surfaces is imperative to gaining a complete understanding of how antimicrobial surfaces can be effectively deployed. In this thesis, I have used transcriptomics, fluorescent microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy to examine the AMN-induced stress response of three fungal microbe species (S. cerevisiae, C. albicans, and C. auris) exposed to four types of black silicon (bSi) AMNs. I have found that the induced stress response correlates with the antimicrobial effect. Furthermore, I show that C. albicans exhibit the strongest stress response, followed by C. auris then S. cerevisiae. Overall, I have established a new modality of examining the microbe-AMN interaction dynamic by incorporating the use of transcriptomics.