Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1427367
This article is part of the Research Topic Plant Stress – A Threat to Food Security View all 7 articles

Insight into the ameliorative effect of ZnONPs against arsenic toxicity in soybean driven by hormonal regulation, transporters modulation and stress response genes

Provisionally accepted
Muhammad Zeeshan Muhammad Zeeshan 1*Chenyu Sun Chenyu Sun 2Xin Wang Xin Wang 1Yuxin Hu Yuxin Hu 3Hao Wu Hao Wu 1Shengnan Li Shengnan Li 1Abdul Salam Abdul Salam 1Shiqi Zhu Shiqi Zhu 1Aamir Hamid Khan Aamir Hamid Khan 4Paul Holford Paul Holford 5Zhi X. Zhang Zhi X. Zhang 1Peiwen Zhang Peiwen Zhang 1
  • 1 South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
  • 2 Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
  • 3 Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
  • 4 University of Łódź, Łódź, Łódź, Poland
  • 5 Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Arsenic (As) contamination of agricultural soils poses a serious threat to crop productivity and food safety. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) have emerged as a potential amendment for mitigating the adverse effects of As stress in plants. Soybean (Glycine max L.). crop, is mostly grown on marginalized land and is known for high accumulation of As in roots than others tissue. Therefore, this study aimed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of ZnONPs in ameliorating arsenic toxicity in soybean. Our results demonstrated that ZnOB significantly improved the growth performance of soybean plants exposed to arsenic. This improvement was accompanied by a decrease (55%) in As accumulation and an increase in photosynthetic efficiency. ZnOB also modulated hormonal balance, with a significant increase in auxin (149%), abscisic acid (118%), gibberellin (160%) and jasmonic acid content (92%) under As(V) stress assuring that ZnONPs may enhance root growth and development by regulating hormonal signaling. We then conducted a transcriptomic analysis to understand further the molecular mechanisms underlying the NPs-induced As(V) tolerance. This analysis identified genes differentially expressed in response to ZnONPs supplementation, including those involved in auxin, abscisic acid, gibberellin, and jasmonic acid biosynthesis and signaling pathways. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis identified 37 potential hub genes encoding stress responders, transporters, and signal transducers across six modules potentially facilitated the efflux of arsenic from cells, reducing its toxicity. Our study provides valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms associated with metalloid tolerance in soybean and offers new avenues for improving As tolerance in contaminated soils.

    Keywords: abiotic stress, heavy metal, Hub genes, Glycine max, WGCNA Word count=8251, Figures=8, Table =0

    Received: 03 May 2024; Accepted: 11 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zeeshan, Sun, Wang, Hu, Wu, Li, Salam, Zhu, Khan, Holford, Zhang and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Muhammad Zeeshan, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, Guangdong Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.