Silver nanoparticles affect phenolic and phytoalexin composition of Arabidopsis thaliana

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 716; p. 135361
• Main Authors: Kruszka, Dariusz, Sawikowska, Aneta, Kamalabai Selvakesavan, Rajendran, Krajewski, Paweł, Kachlicki, Piotr, Franklin, Gregory
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 10.05.2020
• Subjects: Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis thaliana; Camalexin; Metal Nanoparticles; Phytoalexins; Sesquiterpenes; Silver; Silver nanoparticles; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; UPLC-MS; RT; Phytoalexins; UPLC-MS; IT-MS; MS; AgNPs; HESI-II; PDA; FLR; Arabidopsis thaliana; HRMS; QE; UPLC; Camalexin; ESI; HPLC; Silver nanoparticles
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135361

[Display omitted] •Arabidopsis thaliana Secondary metabolite profile changed after silver nanoparticle treatment.•Nanoparticle size, concentration and treatment duration played an important role.•Concentration of five phenolic compounds was elevated after nanoparticle treatment.•Accumulation of phytoalexins was induced by both nanoparticle and ionic forms of silver. Silver nanoparticles are widely used in industry, medicine, biotechnology and agriculture. As a consequence, these nanoparticles are reaching the environment as waste products, which might have a negative impact on the environment, especially on plants. This includes the elicitation of various biochemical processes in plants. In this article, we report on the changes in secondary metabolic profile of Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings subjected to silver nanoparticle treatment in vitro. Briefly, various sizes (10 nm, 40 nm and 100 nm in diameter) and concentrations (0.5–5.0 ppm) of silver nanoparticles were tested. Ultraperformance liquid chromatography coupled with ultraviolet and fluorescence detectors as well as hyphenated to a high-resolution mass spectrometer (UPLC-PDA-FLR, UPLC-HESI-HRMS) and HPLC – ion trap mass spectrometer (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS), were applied to identify and quantify secondary metabolites. To understand whether silver ions could induce changes in the secondary metabolite profile, seedlings treated with silver nitrate in concentrations equivalent to these of nanoparticles were also analysed. The results showed significant differences in the accumulation of phenolic and indole compounds between treatments. Silver nanoparticles and silver ions induced the biosynthesis of camalexin, hydroxycamalexin O-hexoside and hydroxycamalexin malonyl-hexoside. These compounds are important phytoalexins for Brassicaceae family (especially for Camelinae clad) and are also synthetized in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. Statistically significant changes have been also observed for five phenolic compounds and 5′Glucosyl-dihydroneoascorbigen in different treatment conditions.