Abstract
Products containing graphene-related materials (GRMs) are becoming quite common, raising concerns for environmental safety. GRMs have varying effects on plants, but their impact on the sexual reproduction process is largely unknown. In this study, the effects of few-layer graphene (FLG) and a similarly layered phyllosilicate, muscovite mica (MICA), were tested in vivo on the reproductive structures, i.e., pollen and stigma, of Cucurbita pepo L. ssp. pepo ‘greyzini’ (summer squash, zucchini). Pollen was exposed to FLG or MICA, after careful physical-chemical characterization, at concentrations of 0.5 and 2 mg of nanomaterial (NM) per g of pollen for up to six hours. Following this, pollen viability was tested. Stigmas were exposed to FLG or MICA for three hours and then analyzed by environmental scanning electron microscopy to verify possible alterations to their surface. Stigmas were then hand-pollinated to verify the effects of the two NMs on pollen adhesion and in vivo pollen germination. FLG and MICA altered neither pollen viability nor the stigmatic surface. However, both NMs equivalently decreased pollen adhesion and in vivo germination compared with untreated stigmas. These effects deserve further attention as they could impact on production of fruits and seeds. Importantly, it was shown that FLG is as safe as a naturally occurring nanomaterial.
Highlights
Graphene is a nanomaterial (NM) made of carbon atoms arranged in a 2D crystal structure with remarkable physicochemical properties [1]
A direct comparison between these observations and the results reported here is difficult because the only characterization of the dust applied to the P. vera flowers was the size of the dust particles (20 μm in diameter), but not their physicochemical properties
The possible impact of few-layer graphene (FLG) was verified on a biological process essential for terrestrial ecosystems, i.e., the sexual reproduction of seed plants
Summary
Graphene is a nanomaterial (NM) made of carbon atoms arranged in a 2D crystal structure with remarkable physicochemical properties [1]. These make graphene suitable for numerous applications ranging from optoelectronics, to medical, to material engineering [2,3,4]. More and more applications involving the direct release of GRMs into the environment are under development, such as drugs enhancers and carriers, pesticides and fertilizers for crops [5,6], or sand improvers for soil remediation [7]. GRM particles of micro- and nanometric size are extremely lightweight and, could be aerodispersed for long distances, as documented for carbon black in fine and ultrafine particulate matter (PM) [8]
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