Complex genetic, photothermal, and photoacoustic analysis of nanoparticle-plant interactions

Abstract

Understanding the nature of interactions between engineered nanomaterials and plants is crucial in comprehending the impact of nanotechnology on the environment and agriculture with a focus on toxicity concerns, plant disease treatment, and genetic engineering. To date, little progress has been made in studying nanoparticle-plant interactions at single nanoparticle and genetic levels. Here, we introduce an advanced platform integrating genetic, Raman, photothermal, and photoacoustic methods. Using this approach, we discovered that multiwall carbon nanotubes induce previously unknown changes in gene expression in tomato leaves and roots, particularly, up-regulation of the stress-related genes, including those induced by pathogens and the water-channel LeAqp2 gene. A nano-bubble amplified photothermal/photoacoustic imaging, spectroscopy, and burning technique demonstrated the detection of multiwall carbon nanotubes in roots, leaves, and fruits down to the single nanoparticle and cell level. Thus, our integrated platform allows the study of nanoparticles' impact on plants with higher sensitivity and specificity, compared to existing assays. (2) is one of the most intensely studied areas in nanotechnology. Nanoscale materials have been shown to be uptaken by tumor cells (3), bacteria (4), plant cells (5), and animal tissues (6). In particular, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with their unique structural and dimensional properties have been intensively studied for drug and gene delivery, tissue engineering, and other biomedical applications (7-9). It has also been shown that carbon nanotubes have the ability to penetrate plant cells (5) and induce phytotoxicity at high doses (10). We have demonstrated that single-wall CNTs at relatively low doses can penetrate even thick seed coats, stimulate germination, and activate enhanced growth of tomato plants (11). However, a thorough understanding of the effects induced by the nano-sized engineered materials on plant physiology at the molecular level is still lacking. In addition, the methods used for detecting such nanostructures in plant tissues are not well established and most of them are time consuming and labor intensive. Moreover, existing nanoparticle detection techniques usually decompose and destroy samples to prove the presence of nanomaterials; as a result, the same plant samples cannot be assessed for genomic/proteomic analysis. For example, the detection of magnetic nanoparticles in pumpkin plants by vibrating sample magnetometer requires drying and digestion of tissue samples with HNO 3 (12). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has been used to monitor the uptake and transportation of CNTs in rice (13), but it has few quantitative capabilities and may result in false positive interpretation because of considerable similarity in TEM images of CNTs and natural plant structures. Consequently, the analysis has to be combined with spectroscopic studies for the exact identification and assessment of the CNTs in the host plant tissue, and this requires the total destruct...

Graphene phytotoxicity in the seedling stage of cabbage, tomato, red spinach, and lettuce

“…Khodakovskaya et al, (2011) reported insignificant toxicity of graphene in the growth of tomato, although they used only one low concentration (50 μg⁄mL) of chemically functionalized graphene with few layers and with a thickness of 2-5 nm. In a study by Says et al, (2006) carbon nanoparticle functionalization led to a remarkable decline in toxic effects.…”

“…158 toxic effect of graphene on plant physiology and plant development, indicating possible adverse effects (Khodakovskaya et al, 2011). Khodakovskaya et al, (2011) reported insignificant toxicity of graphene in the growth of tomato, although they used only one low concentration (50 μg⁄mL) of chemically functionalized graphene with few layers and with a thickness of 2-5 nm.…”

Highly efficient uptake of ultrafine mesoporous silica nanoparticles with excellent biocompatibility by Liriodendron hybrid suspension cells

“…Our results indicate that ultrafine MSNs hold considerable potential as nano-carriers of extracellular molecules, and can be used to investigate in vitro gene-delivery in plant cells. Along with developments in the application of nanotechnology from animal science and medical research to plant science research, the impact of engineered nanomaterials on plant systems has attracted increasing attention, the areas including (i) the delivery of fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and exogenous genes, (ii) the improvement of the growth of plants, and (iii) nanotoxicity research for plant cells [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. However, compared with mammalian cells, the plant cell wall which is composed of cross-linked polysaccharides (cellulose, hemicelluloses, and pectin) represents an extra barrier surrounding the cell membrane that hinders the passage of nanoparticles into plant cells.…”

Electrospray Facilitates the Germination of Plant Seeds

“…Multiwalled carbon nanotubes and zinc oxide NPs were found to be able to stimulate seed germination, thus enhancing the plant's growth in aqueous cultures (Khodakovskaya et al, 2009;Prasad et al, 2012). Moreover, a series of approaches (i.e., genetic, photo-thermal and photo-acoustic methods) were combined to characterize the interactions between multiwalled carbon nanotubes and tomato tissues, providing new insights into the gene transcription regulations of plants under the influence of nanomaterials (Khodakovskaya et al, 2011). However, only colloidal suspensions of NPs were investigated in the previous literature.…”