Abstract
Nanotechnology is a cutting-edge field of science with the potential to revolutionize today’s technological advances including industrial applications. It is being utilized for the welfare of mankind; but at the same time, the unprecedented use and uncontrolled release of nanomaterials into the environment poses enormous threat to living organisms. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are used in several industries and its continuous release may hamper many physiological and biochemical processes in the living organisms including autotrophs and heterotrophs. The present review gives a concentric know-how of the effects of AgNPs on the lower and higher autotrophic plants as well as on heterotrophic microbes so as to have better understanding of the differences in effects among these two groups. It also focuses on the mechanism of uptake, translocation, accumulation in the plants and microbes, and resulting toxicity as well as tolerance mechanisms by which these microorganisms are able to survive and reduce the effects of AgNPs. This review differentiates the impact of silver nanoparticles at various levels between autotrophs and heterotrophs and signifies the prevailing tolerance mechanisms. With this background, a comprehensive idea can be made with respect to the influence of AgNPs on lower and higher autotrophic plants together with heterotrophic microbes and new insights can be generated for the researchers to understand the toxicity and tolerance mechanisms of AgNPs in plants and microbes.
Highlights
The ever-increasing indiscriminate anthropogenic activities worldwide together with the technological advances have led to the creation of huge waste material contaminating our biosphere and causing many ecological risks
The nanosilver is widely used nowadays and regularly released ; its uptake, accumulation, and toxicity must be known with respect to autotrophic and heterotrophic organisms in order to better understand the impact of nano-pollution and to search future ways to combat the problems
Damage occur in protein and membranes Truncated AgNPs possess biocidal effect Unstable outer membrane Disintegrated plasma membrane Small sized AgNPs showed more detrimental effect than larger ones Generation of Reactive Oxygen Species Respiration declined by 87% Toxicity of AgNPs varies according to the pH Toxicity of silver nanoparticles enhanced in combination of organic matter Enhanced antibacterial activity
Summary
The ever-increasing indiscriminate anthropogenic activities worldwide together with the technological advances have led to the creation of huge waste material contaminating our biosphere and causing many ecological risks. The agricultural productivity can be increased by using nano-fertilizers or nanoparticles (NPs) in order to reduce the toxic effects of many metal pollutants (Anjum et al, 2013; Tripathi et al, 2015, 2016, 2017a). Cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and ecotoxicity of coated AgNPs have been reported (Lee et al, 2007; Lima et al, 2012) It poses undesirable effects on plants such as inhibition of seed germination and growth (Yin et al, 2012; Dimkpa et al, 2013; Nair and Chung, 2014). Studies have revealed that AgNPs show toxic behavior against mitochondria and generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) (Hsin et al, 2008; Kim et al, 2012) These ROS damage the cell membrane, disrupt ATP production pathway and DNA replication and alter gene expression (Moreno-Garrido et al, 2015). It will lead to the enhancement of the knowledge in this regard and provide a differential approach towards the issue
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