title: Gold nanoparticle exposure induces growth and yield enhancement in Arabidopsis thaliana.
abstract: Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize agriculture field. Towards this effort, carbon nanotubes have recently been reported to induce growth enhancement of tobacco cells. In this study, exposure to 24 nm size gold nanoparticles (GNPs) at 10 μg/ml concentration was found to enhance the total seed yield of Arabidopsis thaliana by 3 times over the control. In addition, 24 nm size GNP exposure at both 10 and 80 μg/ml concentrations has significantly improved seed germination rate, vegetative growth and free radical scavenging activity. A considerable correlation was found between expression of key plant regulatory molecules, microRNAs (miRs) and seed germination, growth and antioxidant potential of A. thaliana on GNP exposure. This is the first report showing GNPs as a promising tool to enhance seed yield of plants.
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Division, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur 176061, HP, India.
authors.forename: Vineet
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Praveen
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Guleria
authors.forename: Vinay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Sudesh Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Yadav
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers / Q000378:metabolism; D018525:Germination / Q000187:drug effects; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000378:metabolism; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012639:Seeds / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D016166:Free Radical Scavengers; D035683:MicroRNAs; D006046:Gold
keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana; Gold nanoparticles; Plant growth; Seed yield; microRNA