Elevated CO2 Differentially Mitigated Oxidative Stress Induced by Indium Oxide Nanoparticles in Young and Old Leaves of C3 and C4 Crops

Ibrahim I Shabbaj; Hamada AbdElgawad; Mansour A Balkhyour; Abdurazag Tammar; Mahmoud M Y Madany

doi:10.3390/antiox11020308

Elevated CO₂ Differentially Mitigated Oxidative Stress Induced by Indium Oxide Nanoparticles in Young and Old Leaves of C3 and C4 Crops

Antioxidants (Basel). 2022 Feb 3;11(2):308. doi: 10.3390/antiox11020308.

Authors

Ibrahim I Shabbaj¹, Hamada AbdElgawad^{2

3}, Mansour A Balkhyour¹, Abdurazag Tammar¹, Mahmoud M Y Madany^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21441, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef 62511, Egypt.
³ Integrated Molecular Plant Physiology Research, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium.
⁴ Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt.
⁵ Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Taibah University, Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah 41411, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Soil contamination with indium (In) oxide nanoparticles (In₂O₃-NPs) threatens plant growth and development. However, their toxicity in plants under ambient (aCO₂) and elevated (eCO₂) conditions is scarcely studied. To this end, this study was conducted to investigate In₂O₃-NPs toxicity in the young and old leaves of C3 (barley) and C4 (maize) plants and to understand the mechanisms underlying the stress mitigating impact of eCO₂. Treatment of C3 and C4 plants with In₂O₃-NPs significantly reduced growth and photosynthesis, induced oxidative damage (H₂O₂, lipid peroxidation), and impaired P and Fe homeostasis, particularly in the young leaves of C4 plants. On the other hand, this phytotoxic hazard was mitigated by eCO₂ which improved both C3 and C4 growth, decreased In accumulation and increased phosphorus (P) and iron (Fe) uptake, particularly in the young leaves of C4 plants. Moreover, the improved photosynthesis by eCO₂ accordingly enhanced carbon availability under the challenge of In₂O₃-NPs that were directed to the elevated production of metabolites involved in antioxidant and detoxification systems. Our physiological and biochemical analyses implicated the role of the antioxidant defenses, including superoxide dismutase (SOD) in stress mitigation under eCO₂. This was validated by studying the effect of In₂O₃-stress on a transgenic maize line (TG) constitutively overexpressing the AtFeSOD gene and its wild type (WT). Although it did not alter In accumulation, the TG plants showed improved growth and photosynthesis and reduced oxidative damage. Overall, this work demonstrated that C3 was more sensitive to In₂O₃-NPs stress; however, C4 plants were more responsive to eCO₂. Moreover, it demonstrated the role of SOD in determining the hazardous effect of In₂O₃-NPs.

Keywords: Hordeum vulgare; ROS homeostasis; Zea maize; detoxification metabolism; elevated CO2; heavy metal.