Yan Xiaoyan, Xu Qiang, Li Dongxia, Wang Jianhua, Han Rong
College of Life Science, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen 041004, People's Republic of China; Higher Education Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular and Environmental Stress Response, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen 041004, Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China.
College of Life Science, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen 041004, People's Republic of China.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2021 Jun 15;216:112168. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.112168. Epub 2021 Apr 2.
Carbon dots (CDs) possess considerable potentials in fields like biomarker and cell imaging due to its good fluorescence properties. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanism concerning influences of CDs on plant growth still remains unknown. In this study, the subcellular localization of CDs in Arabidopsis and the molecular mechanism of CDs toxicity to plants were investigated. Results demonstrate that CDs tend to accumulate in meristematic nucleus of root tips. CDs can inhibit growth of meristem zone of primary root (PR) of Arabidopsis seedlings significantly. The transcription level of auxin biosynthesis related genes decreases and the abundance of auxin efflux carriers PIN1 and PIN2 declines after 40 mg/L CDs treatment, thus lowering the auxin level in root tips. Moreover, CDs weaken activity of cell division in meristem zone by disturbing expressions of DNA damage repair genes and cell cycle regulation genes, thus enabling to inhibit growth of the meristem zone. To sum up, CDs inhibit growth of Arabidopsis seedlings through above pathways. These results provide useful information to elaborate potential toxicity mechanism of CDs on terrestrial plants.
