Nanoparticles as potential hallmarks of drought stress tolerance in plants

Abstract

Plants are inevitably exposed to drought stress limiting their growth and causing yield loss, thus inciting food crises across the world. Nanoparticles (NPs) are regarded as effective and promising tools for modulation of crop yield to overcome current and future constraints in sustainable agricultural production by upgrading the plant tolerance mechanism under abiotic stress conditions, including drought. NPs exhibit alleviating effects against drought stress via induction of physiological and biochemical readjustments accompanied by modulation of gene expression involved in drought response/tolerance. NPs ameliorate drought‐induced reduction in carbon assimilation via increasing the photosynthetic activity. The improved root growth, upregulation of aquaporins, modification of intracellular water metabolism, accumulation of compatible solutes and ion homeostasis are the major mechanisms used by NPs to mitigate the osmotic stress caused by water deficit. NPs reduce water loss from leaves through stomatal closure due to fostered abscisic acid (ABA) accumulation and ameliorate oxidative stress damage by reducing reactive oxygen species and activating the antioxidant defense system. This review provides an evolutionary foundation regarding drought stress in plant life and summarizes the interactions between NPs and plants under drought. The subsequent impact of NPs on plant development and productivity and recent nanobiotechnological approaches to improve drought stress resilience are presented. On the whole, this review highlights the significance of NPs in dealing with the global problem of water scarcity faced by farmers.

The Role of Nanoparticles in Response of Plants to Abiotic Stress at Physiological, Biochemical, and Molecular Levels

“…As per previous studies, NPs cause a variety of morphological, physiological and biochemical changes in plants as they increase their resistance to drought stress by increasing plant root hydraulic conductance and water uptake and demonstrate a differential abundance of proteins involved in oxidation-reduction, ROS detoxification, stress signaling and hormone pathways [ 17 ]. The foliar application of metal-oxide nanoparticles, such as titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ), zinc oxide (ZnO) and iron oxide (Fe 3 O 4 ), were found to be effective in enhancing the plant’s physiological and metabolic activities under drought stress [ 54 ].…”

“…Worldwide interest in nanomaterials is currently growing as a means of defending plant growth from abiotic challenges, such as drought, salt, heavy metals, extremely high temperatures and flooding [ 16 ]. Nanoparticles (NPs) are thought to be useful and promising techniques for modifying crop yield by enhancing a plant’s ability to tolerate abiotic stress, in order to address present and upcoming production restrictions in sustainable agriculture [ 17 ]. Figure 1 represents various abiotic stress factors and their responses in plants.…”

The role of nanoparticles in plant biochemical, physiological, and molecular responses under drought stress: A review

“…Drought responsive genes including GmRD20A, GmDREB2, GmERD1, GmFDL19, GmNAC11, GmWRKY27, GmMYB118, and GmMYB174 and their expressions are significantly upregulated by the application of NPs (Kandhol et al, 2022) (Figure 1). In another study, Yang et al (2018) also noted that CuO-NPs and ZnO-NPs significantly increased the expression of genes linked with drought tolerance in the roots of wheat plants (Yang et al, 2018).…”

“…Drought responsive genes including GmRD20A , GmDREB2 , GmERD1 , GmFDL19 , GmNAC11 , GmWRKY27 , GmMYB118 , and GmMYB174 and their expressions are significantly up-regulated by the application of NPs ( Kandhol et al., 2022 ) ( Figure 1 ). In another study, Yang et al.…”

Nanomaterials as an alternative to increase plant resistance to abiotic stresses

“…In this way, NPs mitigate drought-induced ROS through the aggregation of osmolytes, which results in enhanced osmotic adaptation and crop water balance . Furthermore, NPs increase the photosynthetic activity, upregulate aquaporins, modify the intracellular water metabolism, accumulates compatible solutes, maintain intracellular ion homeostasis, increase stomatal density, and reduce water loss from leaves through stomatal closure due to fostered ABA accumulation (Attaran Dowom et al, 2022;Kandhol et al, 2022). ( Katiyar et al, 2020) Ag NPs: 25 ∼ 100 mg L -1 High temperature: increased gradually as a step function and maintained between 35-40°C for set time duration (3 h/day).…”