Nanobiotechnology-based strategies for enhanced crop stress resilience.

Nanobiotechnology approaches to engineering crops with enhanced stress tolerance may be a safe and sustainable strategy to increase crop yield. Under stress conditions, cellular redox homeostasis is disturbed, resulting in the over-accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that damage biomolecules (lipids, proteins and DNA) and inhibit crop growth and yield. Delivering ROS-scavenging nanomaterials to plants has been shown to alleviate abiotic stress.

Toxicological effects of WS nanomaterials on rice plants and associated soil microbes.

As an important member of transition-metal dichalcogenides family, tungsten disulfides nanomaterials (WS NMs) have a wide range of applications. To date, their environmental risks remain largely unknown. In this study, rice plants were grown in soil amended with different concentrations (0, 10, and 100 mg/kg) of WS NMs for 4 weeks.

Different physiological responses of C3 and C4 plants to nanomaterials.

Several studies have previously reported that nanomaterial uptake and toxicity in plants are species dependent. However, the differences between photosynthetic pathways, C3 and C4, following nanomaterial exposure are poorly understood. In the current work, wheat and rice, two C3 pathway species are compared to amaranth and maize, which utilize the C4 photosynthetic mechanism.

Physiological impacts of zero valent iron, FeO and FeO nanoparticles in rice plants and their potential as Fe fertilizers.

Fe-based nanoparticles (Fe-based NPs) have great potential as a substitute for traditional Fe-fertilizer; however, their environmental risk and impact on plant growth are not fully understood. In this study, we compared the physiological impacts of three different Fe-based NP formulations: zero-valent iron (ZVI), FeO and FeO NPs, on hydroponic rice after root exposure for 2 weeks. Fe-normal (Fe(+)) and Fe-deficiency (Fe(-)) conditions were compared.