Environmental Effects of Nanoceria on Seed Production of Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris): A Proteomic Analysis

Abstract

The rapidly growing literature on the response of edible plants to nanoceria has provided evidence of its uptake and bioaccumulation, which delineates a possible route of entry into the food chain. However, little is known about how the residing organic matter in soil may affect the bioavailability and resulting impacts of nanoceria on plants. Here, we examined the effect of nanoceria exposure (62.5–500 mg/kg) on kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) productivity and seed quality as a function of soil organic matter content. Cerium accumulation in the seeds produced from plants in organic matter enriched soil showed a dose-dependent increase, unlike in low organic matter soil treatments. Seeds obtained upon nanoceria exposure in soils with higher organic matter were more susceptible to changes in nutrient quality. A quantitative proteomic analysis of the seeds produced upon nanoceria exposure provided evidence for upregulation of stress-related proteins at 62.5 and 125 mg/kg nanoceria treatments. Although the plants did not exhibit overt toxicity, the major seed proteins primarily associated with nutrient storage (phaseolin) and carbohydrate metabolism (lectins) were significantly down-regulated in a dose dependent manner upon nanoceria exposure. This study thus suggests that nanoceria exposures may negatively affect the nutritional quality of kidney beans at the cellular and molecular level. More confirmatory studies with nanoceria along different species using alternative and orthogonal “omic” tools are currently under active investigation, which will enable the identification of biomarkers of exposure and susceptibility.

Intergenerational responses of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to cerium oxide nanoparticles exposure

“…Previous studies showed that CeO 2 -NPs promoted down-regulation of proteins in kidney beans S1 seeds, and altered starch and protein contents in wheat seeds. 2,6 It is difficult to determine the cause of accelerated growth and grain formation observed in the present study; however, analysis of first generation wheat seeds appeared to have improved grain biomass and amino and fatty acid concentrations. 3 Such alterations in macromolecular contents could have triggered the enhanced growth and early onset of grain production/maturity in the offspring of plants whose parents were exposed to Ce-500 during the first generation.…”

“…1 This peculiar property of CeO 2 -NPs stimulates physiological and biochemical changes in seeds harvested from plants that have been exposed to CeO 2 -NPs. Studies have revealed that CeO 2 -NPs induced significant changes on the quality of S1 seeds in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), 2,3 barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), 4,5 kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), 6 and soybean (Glycine max L.). 7 Findings have invariably established alterations in nutrient profile, grain/embryo physiology, and macromolecular composition in seeds.…”

1H NMR and GC–MS based metabolomics reveal nano-Cu altered cucumber (Cucumis sativus) fruit nutritional supply

“…Although a number of publications have begun to explore the interaction between NPs and plants (Rico et al, 2011;Deng et al, 2014;Ma et al, 2010;Priester et al, 2012;Majumdar et al, 2015;Musante and White, 2012), the knowledge of the implications of NPs on the nutritional value of crop fruit is still limited. Rico et al showed that nCeO 2 decreased some of the nutrients in rice grains, including Fe, S, prolamin, glutelin, lauric and valeric acids, and starch.…”

“…Our previous study (Zhao et al, 2014) also showed that ZnO NPs and CeO 2 NPs at certain doses induced sugar, starch, and protein content alterations in cucumber fruits. Majumdar et al (2015) reported that phaseolin and lectins in bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) seed, which are associated with nutrient storage and carbohydrate metabolism, were down-regulated in a dose dependent way due to exposure of the plants to nCeO 2 . However, those studies analyzed a limited number of target metabolites.…”

Perspectives of cerium nanoparticles use in agriculture

“…In the case of cutting or putting into the soil nanoparticles penetrate and transported to various parts of the plant. Some nanoparticles remain in the extracellular matrix; others remain inside the cells [20,41]. Dosage and absorption of nanoparticles can vary.…”