Supplementary Materials
The following supporting information can be found at: https://www.sciepublish.com/article/pii/626, Figure S1. A female Eastern lubber grasshopper (ELG) (scientific name: Romalea microptera): (A) Top-down view of the ELG: The Eastern lubber grasshopper (Romalea microptera) is a large grasshopper, distinguished by its vivid and striking coloration. The ELG has a distinctive coloration pattern, featuring a primarily black body with vibrant yellow, orange, and red markings on the wings. The forewings (tegmina) are short. (B) Lateral view of the ELG: The head is large with prominent compound eyes and short, robust antennae. The thorax is broad and shield-like, adorned with a colorful pattern. The abdomen is similarly colorful and stout. The legs are thick and strong, with the hind legs adapted more for walking than jumping. Figure S2. Proteins in Aqueous Eastern lubber grasshopper (ELG) extract (AELGE): The same AELGE sample was run on an SDS polyacrylamide gel (lanes 1 and 2). The protein bands were unclear, and most of the proteins in the AELGE sample failed to penetrate the SDS polyacrylamide gel, remaining at the top of the wells. A possible explanation is that the AELGE proteins are mostly glycoproteins, which may have difficulty penetrating the SDS gel. Figure S3. UV-Vis spectra of AELGE-AgNPs and Citrate-AgNPs: The broad peak in the UV-Vis spectrum of AELGE-AgNPs, located around 440 nm within the 400–600 nm range, suggests an average particle size of approximately 40–50 nm. Similarly, the broad peak of Citrate-AgNPs, centered around 455 nm, indicates an average size of approximately 60 nm (Paramelle et al., 2014). Figure S4. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images of AELGE-AgNPs and Citrate-AgNPs: (A) Fairly uniform-sized AELGE-AgNPs are observed in the SEM images. (B) AELGE-AgNPs are shown at a greater magnification in the SEM image. (C) Fairly uniform-sized citrate-AgNPs are observed in the SEM images as well. (D) Citrate-AgNPs are shown at a greater magnification in the SEM image. (B) AELGE-AgNPs are shown at a greater magnification in the SEM image. Figure S5. Histogram of particle sizes for AELGE-AgNPs and Citrate-AgNPs observed in the TEM images in Figure 3C,D: (A) AELGE-AgNPs exhibit fairly uniform and small sizes, mostly ranging from 3 to 11 nm, as shown in Figure 3C. (B) Citrate-AgNPs display a broader size distribution, ranging from 6 to 42 nm, as seen in Figure 3D. Figure S6. EDX Data of AELGE-AgNPs: The AELGE-AgNPs were synthesized and capped with biological molecules containing carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen elements. This indicates that the Eastern lubber grasshopper extract includes proteins, polypeptides, and other common nitrogen/oxygen-containing organic compounds. (Note: aluminum tape under the samples detected an aluminum signal.) Figure S7. Estimated free Ag+ ion ZOI by mathematical calculations with average ZOI (mm) (y axis) and applied Ag+ ion concentration (mM) (x axis). Figure S8. Estimated AELGE-AgNP ZOI area (ZOIA) Enhancement compared to free Ag+ ions by mathematical calculations with ZOIA (mm2) (y axis) and applied Ag⁺ ion concentration (mM) (x axis).
Acknowledgments
The authors express their gratitude to the Louisiana Biomedical Research Network (LBRN) for seed funding provided through NIH Award Number 00002063438, which facilitated the initiation of this project. Partial support was also provided through the Louisiana Biomedical Research Network’s pilot project, funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Grant 8P20GM103424 and the Louisiana Board of Regents Support Fund. Furthermore, the College of Science and Technology at Southeastern Louisiana University partially supported this research through its internal research fund. We also thank Dongmei Cao at Louisiana State University for her assistance with TEM/SEM imaging.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, J.L.C. and L.H.S.; Methodology, J.L.C.; Validation, J.L.C., L.H.S., W.J.D., Y.Q., W.Y. and H.M.S.G.; Formal Analysis, J.L.C., L.H.S.; Investigation, J.L.C.; Resources, J.L.C. and L.H.S.; Data Curation, J.L.C. and L.H.S.; Writing Original Draft Preparation, J.L.C.; Writing Review & Editing, J.L.C., L.H.S. and W.J.D.; Visualization, J.L.C.; Supervision, J.L.C.; Project Administration, J.L.C.; Funding Acquisition, J.L.C.
Ethics Statement
Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
Data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Funding
The authors acknowledge the Louisiana Biomedical Research Network (LBRN) for providing seed funding through NIH Award Number 00002063438, which enabled the initiation of this project. Partial support was also provided through the Louisiana Biomedical Research Network’s pilot project, funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Grant 8P20GM103424 and the Louisiana Board of Regents Support Fund. Furthermore, this research was partially supported by the internal research fund of the College of Science and Technology at Southeastern Louisiana University.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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