Exploring the nano-wonders: unveiling the role of Nanoparticles in enhancing salinity and drought tolerance in plants

Abdul Rehman; Sana Khan; Fenlei Sun; Zhen Peng; Keyun Feng; Ning Wang; Yinhua Jia; Zhaoe Pan; Shoupu He; Lidong Wang; Abdul Qayyum; Xiongming Du; Hongge Li

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1324176

Exploring the nano-wonders: unveiling the role of Nanoparticles in enhancing salinity and drought tolerance in plants

Front Plant Sci. 2024 Jan 17:14:1324176. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1324176. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Abdul Rehman^{1

2}, Sana Khan³, Fenlei Sun¹, Zhen Peng^{1

2}, Keyun Feng⁴, Ning Wang⁴, Yinhua Jia^{1

2}, Zhaoe Pan¹, Shoupu He^{1

2

5}, Lidong Wang^{1

2}, Abdul Qayyum⁶, Xiongming Du^{1

2}, Hongge Li^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Zhengzhou Research Base, National Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, School of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
² National Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, Institute of Cotton Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang, China.
³ Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
⁴ Institute of Crop Sciences, Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China.
⁵ National Supercomputer Center in Zhengzhou, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
⁶ Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan.

Abstract

Plants experience diverse abiotic stresses, encompassing low or high temperature, drought, water logging and salinity. The challenge of maintaining worldwide crop cultivation and food sustenance becomes particularly serious due to drought and salinity stress. Sustainable agriculture has significant promise with the use of nano-biotechnology. Nanoparticles (NPs) have evolved into remarkable assets to improve agricultural productivity under the robust climate alteration and increasing drought and salinity stress severity. Drought and salinity stress adversely impact plant development, and physiological and metabolic pathways, leading to disturbances in cell membranes, antioxidant activities, photosynthetic system, and nutrient uptake. NPs protect the membrane and photosynthetic apparatus, enhance photosynthetic efficiency, optimize hormone and phenolic levels, boost nutrient intake and antioxidant activities, and regulate gene expression, thereby strengthening plant's resilience to drought and salinity stress. In this paper, we explored the classification of NPs and their biological effects, nanoparticle absorption, plant toxicity, the relationship between NPs and genetic engineering, their molecular pathways, impact of NPs in salinity and drought stress tolerance because the effects of NPs vary with size, shape, structure, and concentration. We emphasized several areas of research that need to be addressed in future investigations. This comprehensive review will be a valuable resource for upcoming researchers who wish to embrace nanotechnology as an environmentally friendly approach for enhancing drought and salinity tolerance.

Keywords: drought; genetic engineering; nanoparticles; nanotoxicity; salinity.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Grants from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant no: 2022YFD1200300), China Agriculture Research System (CARS-15-01) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (32060466) provided support for this work.