Phytotoxic and genotoxic effects of silver nanoparticles exposure on germinating wheat seedlings

Gene Expression, Protein Function and Pathways of Arabidopsis thaliana Responding to Silver Nanoparticles in Comparison to Silver Ions, Cold, Salt, Drought, and Heat

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been widely used in industry due to their unique physical and chemical properties. However, AgNPs have caused environmental concerns. To understand the risks of AgNPs, Arabidopsis microarray data for AgNP, Ag⁺, cold, salt, heat and drought stresses were analyzed. Up- and down-regulated genes of more than two-fold expression change were compared, while the encoded proteins of shared and unique genes between stresses were subjected to differential enrichment analyses. AgNPs affected the fewest genes (575) in the Arabidopsis genome, followed by Ag⁺ (1010), heat (1374), drought (1435), salt (4133) and cold (6536). More genes were up-regulated than down-regulated in AgNPs and Ag⁺ (438 and 780, respectively) while cold down-regulated the most genes (4022). Responses to AgNPs were more similar to those of Ag⁺ (464 shared genes), cold (202), and salt (163) than to drought (50) or heat (30); the genes in the first four stresses were enriched with 32 PFAM domains and 44 InterPro protein classes. Moreover, 111 genes were unique in AgNPs and they were enriched in three biological functions: response to fungal infection, anion transport, and cell wall/plasma membrane related. Despite shared similarity to Ag⁺, cold and salt stresses, AgNPs are a new stressor to Arabidopsis.

Biosynthesized silver nanoparticles as a nanoweapon against phytopathogens: exploring their scope and potential in agriculture

The beneficial use of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in agroecosystems is not fully explored with partial information available, of which most of the studies are limited to laboratory conditions and only few involve natural ecosystems. AgNPs, being the most popular metallic nanoparticles exhibiting antimicrobial property, are predominantly used for plant disease management. Owing to the ill hazards of chemically synthesized AgNPs, their biosynthesis using environment-friendly biomolecules is gaining noteworthy attention. In addition, considering the advantages of nanoformulations over biopesticides, there is no doubt that biosynthesized AgNP-based biopesticides could revolutionize the agricultural sector in the future. Though enhanced commercial use of AgNPs has generated biosafety issues in modern scenario but expecting their significant contribution towards agricultural sector, it is too early to predict the risk factor associated with their usage. To unveil the toxicity factor of AgNPs, we need to focus and understand the major interactions of AgNPs in agroecosytems. Hence, the present review highlights (i) the potential application of AgNPs in the agricultural sector particularly for plant disease management, (ii) significance of biosynthesized AgNPs using microbes and plants over their chemical synthesis, (iii) major interactions of AgNPs in agroecosystems (with soil, soil biota, and plants) with emphasis to deal with toxicity-determining factors, and (iv) identifying future research work holding promising applications of biosynthesized AgNPs in agroecosystems.