title: Carbon nanotubes as plant growth regulators: effects on tomato growth, reproductive system, and soil microbial community.
abstract: Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can affect plant phenotype and the composition of soil microbiota. Tomato plants grown in soil supplemented with CNTs produce two times more flowers and fruit compared to plants grown in control soil. The effect of carbon nanotubes on microbial community of CNT-treated soil is determined by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and pyrosequencing analysis. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes are the most dominant groups in the microbial community of soil. The relative abundances of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes are found to increase, whereas Proteobacteria and Verrucomicorbia decrease with increasing concentration of CNTs. The results of comparing diversity indices and species level phylotypes (OTUs) between samples showed that there is not a significant affect on bacterial diversity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Science, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR 72204, USA. mvkhodakovsk@ualr.edu
authors.forename: Mariya V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Khodakovskaya
authors.forename: Bong-Soo
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jong Nam
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alimohammadi
authors.forename: Enkeleda
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dervishi
authors.forename: Thikra
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mustafa
authors.forename: Carl E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Cernigla
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004586:Electrophoresis / Q000379:methods; D035264:Flowers; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000378:metabolism*; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000737:chemistry; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012987:Soil