RESPONSE OF TOMATO PLANTS EXPOSED TO TREATMENT WITH NANOPARTICLES

Abstract

In this work the response of Tomato plants cv. Micro-Tom to nanoparticles (NPs) treatment was investigated. Tomato seedlings were grown in hydroponic condition and NPs treatments were carried out by adding Fe 3 O 4 or TiO 2 NPs to nutrient solution. At the end of treatments, NPs root uptake and tissue deposition were investigated using Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope, equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy for chemical identification. At morphological level, one week after the beginning of NP treatment, seedlings grown with high concentration of TiO 2 NPs showed an abnormal proliferation of root hairs, as compared to the control seedlings and to the seedlings exposed to Fe 3 O 4 NPs, Shoot morphology did not differ in tomato seedlings grown under different conditions and no symptoms of toxicity were observed in NP-treated plants. In order to analyse genetic effects of NPs treatments, RNA transcription was studied in roots of NP-exposed and control plants by Illumina RNA sequencing, evidencing the induction of transposable elements.