Cobalt oxide nanoparticles: An effective growth promoter of Arabidopsis plants and nano-pesticide against bacterial leaf blight pathogen in rice

Solabomi Olaitan Ogunyemi; Xinyan Xu; Lihui Xu; Yasmine Abdallah; Muhammad Rizwan; Luqiong Lv; Temoor Ahmed; Hayssam M Ali; Fahad Khan; Chengqi Yan; Jianping Chen; Bin Li

doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.114935

Cobalt oxide nanoparticles: An effective growth promoter of Arabidopsis plants and nano-pesticide against bacterial leaf blight pathogen in rice

Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2023 Jun 1:257:114935. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.114935. Epub 2023 Apr 20.

Authors

Solabomi Olaitan Ogunyemi¹, Xinyan Xu¹, Lihui Xu², Yasmine Abdallah³, Muhammad Rizwan⁴, Luqiong Lv¹, Temoor Ahmed¹, Hayssam M Ali⁵, Fahad Khan⁶, Chengqi Yan⁷, Jianping Chen⁸, Bin Li⁹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology and Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Key Laboratory of Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects of Zhejiang Province, Institute of Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
² Institute of Eco-Environmental Protection, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 201403, China. Electronic address: xulihui@saas.sh.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology and Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Key Laboratory of Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects of Zhejiang Province, Institute of Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; Plant Pathology Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Minia University, 61519, Elminya, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Environmental Sciences, Government College University, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan.
⁵ Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania, Prospect, TAS 7250, Australia.
⁷ Institute of Biotechnology, Ningbo Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Ningbo 315040, China.
⁸ State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the quality and Safety of Agro-products, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of Ministry of Agriculture and Zhejiang Province, Institute of Plant Virology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China.
⁹ State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology and Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Key Laboratory of Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects of Zhejiang Province, Institute of Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. Electronic address: libin0571@zju.edu.cn.

PMID: 37086623
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.114935

Abstract

Recently, the application of cobalt oxide nanoparticles (Co₃O₄NPs) has gained popularity owing to its magnetic, catalytic, optical, antimicrobial, and biomedical properties. However, studies on its use as a crop protection agent and its effect on photosynthetic apparatus are yet to be reported. Here, Co₃O₄NPs were first green synthesized using Hibiscus rosa-sinensis flower extract and were characterized using UV-Vis spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission/scanning electron microscopy methods. Formation of the Co₃O₄NPs was attested based on surface plasmon resonance at 210 nm. XRD assay showed that the samples were crystalline having a mean size of 34.9 nm. The Co₃O₄NPs at 200 µg/ml inhibited the growth (OD₆₀₀ = 1.28) and biofilm formation (OD₅₇₀ = 1.37) of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) respectively, by 72.87% and 79.65%. Rice plants inoculated with Xoo had disease leaf area percentage (DLA %) of 57.25% which was significantly reduced to 11.09% on infected plants treated with 200 µg/ml Co₃O₄NPs. Also, plants treated with 200 µg/ml Co₃O₄NPs only had significant increment in shoot length, root length, fresh weight, and dry weight in comparison to plants treated with double distilled water. The application of 200 µg/ml Co₃O₄NPs on the Arabidopsis plant significantly increased the photochemical efficacy of PSII (ΦPSII) and photochemical quenching (qP) respectively, by 149.10% and 125.00% compared to the control while the non-photochemical energy dissipation (ΦNPQ) was significantly lowered in comparison to control. In summary, it can be inferred that Co₃O₄NPs can be a useful agent in the management of bacterial phytopathogen diseases.

Keywords: Antibacterial activity; Arabidopsis; Chlorophyll fluorescence; Cobalt oxide nanoparticles; Gene expression; Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae.

MeSH terms

Arabidopsis*
Nanoparticles* / chemistry
Oryza*
Oxides / pharmacology
Plant Diseases / microbiology

Substances

cobalt oxide
Oxides