Work

Plants primed with CeO2 nanoparticles increased DNA methylation level to convey transgenerational salinity tolerance

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Salinity is a major abiotic stress worldwide, resulting in the penalty of crop yield and quality. Nano-priming is a widely used technique to improve plant salt tolerance. However, whether nano-priming improved plant salt tolerance can be imparted to its next generation is rarely studied. Also, the mechanisms behind nano-priming induced transgenerational stress tolerance in plants are still unclear. In this study, we synthesized negatively charged polyacrylic acid-coated cerium oxide nanoparticles (PNC) and investigated the effect of PNC-priming on salt tolerance in Arabidopsis offspring seedlings. By employing whole-genome methylation sequencing (WGBS) and transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq), we revealed the molecular mechanism behind PNC-priming transgenerational regulation of salt tolerance in Arabidopsis. The experimental results demonstrate that PNC-priming improved Arabidopsis offspring seedlings salt tolerance, which increase of 21.17% (p < 0.05) and 52.15% (p < 0.05) in fresh weight in shoots and roots, respectively. WGBS analysis revealed that PNC-priming induced DNA methylation changes in Arabidopsis offspring seedlings under salt stress. Integration of WGBS and RNA-seq data indicated that DNA methylation modulated the expression of genes involved in peroxidase (POD) activity, osmotic stress, oxidative stress, and salt stress. PNC-priming also enhanced POD activity (15.69%, p < 0.05) in the offspring seedlings under salt stress, thereby maintaining better reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis. Overall, this study further confirms the transgenerational regulation of plant salt tolerance by nanomaterials and elucidates the underlying mechanisms.

Source: Plant Nano Biology

DOI: 10.1016/j.plana.2025.100214