Application of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles and Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria Reduces Genetic Impairment under Salt Stress in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. ‘Linda’)

Arash Hosseinpour,Kagan Tolga Cinisli,Peter Poczai,Kamil Haliloglu,Halil Ibrahim Ozturk,Alireza Pour-Aboughadareh,Guller Ozkan

doi:10.3390/agriculture10110521

Arash Hosseinpour, Kagan Tolga Cinisli + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10110521

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Abstract

Salinity is an edaphic stress that dramatically restricts worldwide crop production. Nanomaterials and plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) are currently used to alleviate the negative effects of various stresses on plant growth and development. This study investigates the protective effects of different levels of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) (0, 20, and 40 mg L−1) and PGPBs (no bacteria, Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus casei, Bacillus pumilus) on DNA damage and cytosine methylation changes in the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. ‘Linda’) seedlings under salinity stress (250 mM NaCl). Coupled Restriction Enzyme Digestion-Random Amplification (CRED-RA) and Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) approaches were used to analyze changes in cytosine methylation and to determine how genotoxic effects influence genomic stability. Salinity stress increased the polymorphism rate assessed by RAPD, while PGPB and ZnO-NPs reduced the adverse effects of salinity stress. Genomic template stability was increased by the PGPBs and ZnO-NPs application; this increase was significant when Lactobacillus casei and 40 mg L−1 of ZnO-NPs were used.A decreased level of DNA methylation was observed in all treatments. Taken together, the use of PGPB and ZnO-NPs had a general positive effect under salinity stress reducing genetic impairment in tomato seedlings.

Highlights

Salinity is one of the most significant abiotic stresses that limits the availability of soil water and inhibits germination and growth, leading to decreased crop production worldwide [1].Various stresses lead to enhanced accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and induce oxidative stress
The highest mean flag leaf width (FLW), plant height (PH), stem diameter (SD), LFW, leaf dry weight (LDW), root fresh weight (RFW), and root dry weight (RDW) were obtained in salinity stress + Lactobacillus casei + 40 mg−1 zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) (28 cm, 39.50 cm, 6.12 mm, 24.67 g/plant, 3.45 g/plant, 3.19 g/plant, and 0.31 g/plant, respectively) and the lowest mean values were observed under 250 mM NaCl stress (5 cm, 12 cm, 1.78 mm, 3.19 g/plant, 0.49 g/plant, 0.41 g/plant, and 0.08 g/plant, respectively) (Table 2; Figure 2)
Our results indicated that the application of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) with ZnO-NPs significantly improved cytosine methylation status

Summary

Introduction

Various stresses lead to enhanced accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and induce oxidative stress. Under these conditions, plants activate their antioxidant systems to lower over-accumulation. Agriculture 2020, 10, 521 of ROS and maintain a balanced reduction-oxidation state Under these conditions, plants activate antioxidant systems to lower accumulation of ROS and maintain a balanced reduction-oxidation (redox) state. Salinity stress induces the generation of ROS in various parts of plant cells and tissues. Local chromatin changes and DNA methylation in response to salinity have been studied, and the significance of epigenetic regulation has been emphasized [3]. DNA methylation is an evolutionarily conserved epigenetic mechanism that controls numerous biological processes, including gene imprinting, tissue-specific gene expression, inactivation of transposable elements (TEs), paramutation, and stress responses. The elucidation of mechanisms for active DNA demethylation in plants provides more opportunity to explore the function of active DNA demethylation in gene regulation and plant development [4,5]

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