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Assessment of silver nanoparticle-induced physiological and molecular changes in Arabidopsis thaliana

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Abstract

In this study, the effect of silver nanoparticles and silver ions on Arabidopsis thaliana was investigated at physiological and molecular levels. The seedlings were grown in sublethal concentrations of silver nanoparticles and silver ions (0.2, 0.5, and 1 mg/L) in 1/4 Hoagland’s medium for 14 days under submerged hydroponic conditions. Significantly higher reduction in the total chlorophyll and increase in anthocyanin content were observed after exposure to 0.5 and 1 mg/L silver nanoparticles as compared to similar concentrations of silver ions. Lipid peroxidation increased significantly after exposure to 0.2, 0.5, and 1 mg/L of silver nanoparticles and 0.5 and 1 mg/L of silver ions. Qualitative analysis with dichloro-dihydro-fluorescein diacetate and rhodamine 123 fluorescence showed a dose-dependent increase in reactive oxygen species production and changes in mitochondrial membrane potential in the roots of seedlings exposed to different concentrations of silver nanoparticles. Real-time PCR analysis showed significant upregulation in the expression of sulfur assimilation, glutathione biosynthesis, glutathione S-transferase, and glutathione reductase genes upon exposure to silver nanoparticles as compared with silver ions. Overall, based on the physiological and molecular level responses, it was observed that exposure to silver nanoparticles exerted more toxic response than silver ions in A. thaliana.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the SMART Research Professor Program of Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea to Prakash M. Gopalakrishnan Nair. This work was supported by a grant from the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (Plant Molecular Center No. PJ009053), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

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  1. Department of Applied Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Konkuk University, 120 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 143-701, South Korea

    Prakash M. Gopalakrishnan Nair & Ill Min Chung

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  1. Prakash M. Gopalakrishnan Nair
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Correspondence to Ill Min Chung.

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Responsible editor: Markus Hecker

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Supplementary Figure 1

(A) Phenotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings grown in the presence of silver nanoparticles for fourteen days. (Left to right:- control, 0.2, 0.5 and 1 mg/L silver nanoparticles exposed seedlings). Dark squares indicate the root tip browning caused by exposure to different concentrations of silver nanoparticles. (B) Enlarged view of the root of control (Arrow marks indicates root hairs) and (C) 1 mg/L silver nanoparticles (Arrow marks indicates root tip browning) exposed seedlings. (GIF 307 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 702 kb)

Supplementary Figure 2

Mean fluorescence intensity of the control, AgNPs (0.2, 0.5 and 1 mg/L) and Ag+ ions (1 mg/L) exposed roots of plants stained with 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescin diacetate and Rhodamine 123. The mean fluorescence intensities were calculated using image-Pro Plus 6.0 software. The results were mean values of three replications. (GIF 83 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 75 kb)

Supplementary Table 1

Details of primer sequence (5’-3’) (DOC 54 kb)

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Nair, P.M.G., Chung, I.M. Assessment of silver nanoparticle-induced physiological and molecular changes in Arabidopsis thaliana . Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 8858–8869 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2822-y

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