Seedling nanopriming with selenium-chitosan nanoparticles mitigates the adverse effects of salt stress by inducing multiple defence pathways in bitter melon plants

Morteza Sheikhalipour; Seyed Abolghasem Mohammadi; Behrooz Esmaielpour; Alexandros Spanos; Roghayeh Mahmoudi; Gholam Reza Mahdavinia; Maryam Haghmadad Milani; Amir Kahnamoei; Mojtaba Nouraein; Chrystalla Antoniou; Muhittin Kulak; Gholamreza Gohari; Vasileios Fotopoulos

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.124923

Seedling nanopriming with selenium-chitosan nanoparticles mitigates the adverse effects of salt stress by inducing multiple defence pathways in bitter melon plants

Int J Biol Macromol. 2023 Jul 1;242(Pt 3):124923. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.124923. Epub 2023 May 19.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Horticulture, University of Mohagheh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran; Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
² Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran; Center for Cell Pathology, Department of Life Sciences, Khazar University, Baku, Azerbaijan.
³ Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Horticulture, University of Mohagheh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.
⁴ Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology and Food Science, Cyprus University of Technology Limassol, Cyprus.
⁵ Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran.
⁶ Polymer Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran.
⁷ Department of Biology, Faculty of Basic Sciences, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran.
⁸ Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
⁹ Department of Plant Genetics and Production, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran.
¹⁰ Department of Herbal and Animal Production, Vocational School of Technical Sciences, Igdir University, Türkiye.
¹¹ Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology and Food Science, Cyprus University of Technology Limassol, Cyprus; Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran. Electronic address: gohari.gh@maragheh.ac.ir.
¹² Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology and Food Science, Cyprus University of Technology Limassol, Cyprus. Electronic address: vassilis.fotopoulos@cut.ac.cy.

PMID: 37211072
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.124923

Abstract

Advances in the nanotechnology fields provided crucial applications in plant sciences, contributing to the plant performance and health under stress and stress-free conditions. Amid the applications, selenium (Se), chitosan and their conjugated forms as nanoparticles (Se-CS NPs) have been revealed to have potential of alleviating the harmful effects of the stress on several crops and subsequently enhancing the growth and productivity. The present study was addressed to assay the potential effects of Se-CS NPs in reversing or buffering the harmful effects of salt stress on growth, photosynthesis, nutrient concentration, antioxidant system and defence transcript levels in bitter melon )Momordica charantia(. In addition, some secondary metabolite-related genes were explicitly examined. In this regard, the transcriptional levels of WRKY1, SOS1, PM H⁺-ATPase, SKOR, Mc5PTase7, SOAR1, MAP30, α-MMC, polypeptide-P and PAL were quantified. Our results demonstrated that Se-CS NPs increased growth parameters, photosynthesis parameters (SPAD, ^Fv/_Fm, Y(II)), antioxidant enzymatic activity (POD, SOD, CAT) and nutrient homeostasis (Na⁺/K⁺, Ca²⁺, and Cl^-) and induced the expression of genes in bitter melon plants under salt stress (p ≤ 0.05). Therefore, applying Se-CS NPs might be a simple and effective way of improving crop plants' overall health and yield under salt stress conditions.

Keywords: Abiotic stress; Chitosan; Medicinal plant; Nanotechnology; Signal transduction.

MeSH terms

Antioxidants / pharmacology
Chitosan* / pharmacology
Momordica charantia*
Nanoparticles*
Salt Stress
Seedlings
Selenium* / pharmacology

Substances

Selenium
Antioxidants
Chitosan