Salinity is an edaphic stress that dramatically restricts worldwide crop production. Nanomaterials and plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) are currently used to alleviate the negative effects of various stresses on plant growth and development. This study investigates the protective effects of different levels of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) (0, 20, and 40 mg L−1) and PGPBs (no bacteria, Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus casei, Bacillus pumilus) on DNA damage and cytosine methylation changes in the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. ‘Linda’) seedlings under salinity stress (250 mM NaCl). Coupled Restriction Enzyme Digestion-Random Amplification (CRED-RA) and Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) approaches were used to analyze changes in cytosine methylation and to determine how genotoxic effects influence genomic stability. Salinity stress increased the polymorphism rate assessed by RAPD, while PGPB and ZnO-NPs reduced the adverse effects of salinity stress. Genomic template stability was increased by the PGPBs and ZnO-NPs application; this increase was significant when Lactobacillus casei and 40 mg L−1 of ZnO-NPs were used.A decreased level of DNA methylation was observed in all treatments. Taken together, the use of PGPB and ZnO-NPs had a general positive effect under salinity stress reducing genetic impairment in tomato seedlings.

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Aims: Pests are one of the factors that cause problems in plant production. Many methods are used in the fight against economically damaging insects. Mixtures of various substances are used to reduce the negative effects of harmful organisms and to control them. These substances, called pesticides, often have a chemical origin, because they have many direct and indirect damages to human and nature. In the future, thanks to the encapsulation of microbial metabolites into nanoparticles, it is likely that nano-biopesticides based on new nanobiotechnological methods will emerge as alternatives to conventional pesticides. Opinion: Could the bacterial origin chitinase enzyme (Nano-Bio formulation) immobilize to zinc oxide nanoparticles be used against harmful insects in agricultural production in the future? Can it be used to break down the chitin structure in the intestinal cells of harmful insects, suppress intestinal enzymes that are important to insects (LDH, AT, AP) and cause death by breaking down the throat? Call to the Future: New pesticide formulations can be created as a renewable natural product against plant pests using various protein structures that humans produce from microorganisms isolated from their gene sources. The stabilization of the product can be maintained by immobilizing the nanoparticles to increase the effectiveness of the pest. Thus, the risk potential of pollution created by traditional pesticides will be reduced. The use of Nano-bio pesticides will bring a different perspective in the field of industry. By establishing various production centres based on bioprocesses of renewable resources, it can lead to an effective struggle in agricultural production and increase global employment on a global scale. What do we have to do?: As scientists, believing in the power of microorganisms, the investigation of the potential of microbial metabolites to be used as pesticides and their effectiveness and stability with nanoparticles is important for the 10-year process ahead.