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Enhanced tolerance to salinity stress in grapevine plants through application of carbon quantum dots functionalized by proline

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Abstract

Salinity has destructive impacts in plant production; therefore, application of new approaches such as nanotechnology and plant priming is attracting increasing attention as an innovative means to ameliorate salt stress effects. Considering the unique properties and recorded beneficial influence of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) and proline in plant growth and physiological parameters when applied individually, their conjugation in the form of carbon quantum dot nanoparticles functionalized by proline (Pro-CQDs NPs) could lead to synergistic effects. Accordingly, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the impact of this advanced nanomaterial (Pro-CQDs NPs) as a chemical priming agent, in grapevine plants cv. ‘Rasha’. For this purpose, proline, CQDs, and Pro-CQDs NPs at three concentrations (0, 50, and 100 mg L−1) were applied exogenously 48 h prior to salinity stress (0 and 100 mM NaCl) that was imposed for a month. Three days after imposing salt stress, an array of biochemical measurements was recorded, while agronomic and some physiological parameters were noted at the end of the stress period. Results revealed that proline treatment at both concentrations, as well as CQDs and Pro-CQDs NPs at low concentration, positively affected grapevine plants under both non-stress and stress conditions. Specifically, the application of proline at 100 mg L−1 and Pro-CQDs NPs at 50 mg L−1 resulted in optimal performance identifying 50 mg L−1 Pro-CQDs NPs as the optimal treatment. Proline treatment at 100 mg L−1 increased leaf fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW); chl a, b, and proline content; SOD activity under both non-stress and stress conditions; Y (II) under salinity and carotenoid content; and CAT activity under control conditions. Pro-CQDs NP treatment at 50 mg L−1 enhanced total phenol, anthocyanin, and Fv/Fo, as well as APX and GP activities under both conditions, while increasing carotenoid, Y (II), Fv/Fo, and CAT activity under salinity. Furthermore, it decreased MDA and H2O2 contents at both conditions and EL and Y (NO) under salt stress. Overall, conjugation of CQDs with proline at 50 mg L−1 resulted in further improving the protective effect of proline application at 100 mg L−1. Therefore, functionalization of NPs with chemical priming agents appears to be an effective means of optimizing plant-priming approaches towards efficient amelioration of abiotic stress–related damage in plants.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

APX:

Ascorbate peroxidase

CAT:

Catalase

Chl:

Chlorophyll

CQDs:

Carbon quantum dots

DW:

Dry weight

FW:

Fresh weight

GP:

Guaiacol peroxidase

H2O2 :

Hydrogen peroxide

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

Pro:

Proline

Pro-CQDs NPs:

Carbon quantum dots nanoparticles functionalized by proline

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

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Acknowledgements

S. Panahirad acknowledges University of Tabriz (Tabriz, Iran) for the grant research support (grant number 4602). The authors express sincere thanks to the University of Maragheh for providing the research facilities to carry out the present research study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran

    Gholamreza Gohari, Nasrin Sepehri & Seyed Morteza Zahedi

  2. Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

    Sima Panahirad & Mohammad Reza Dadpour

  3. Solid Tumor Research Center, Cellular and Molecular Medicine Institute, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran

    Ali Akbari

  4. Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

    Hessam Jafari

  5. Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology and Food Science, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus

    Vasileios Fotopoulos

Authors
  1. Gholamreza Gohari
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  2. Sima Panahirad
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  3. Nasrin Sepehri
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  4. Ali Akbari
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  5. Seyed Morteza Zahedi
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Contributions

GG, SP, VF, and AA designed the experimental setup. NS and AF performed greenhouse experiments, and applied biochemical and physiological parameters. AA and HJ synthesized the nanomaterials. SMZ performed statistical analysis. GG, MD, and AA analyzed data and results, while GG, SP, and VF wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Gholamreza Gohari.

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Supplementary information

ESM 1

Fig. S1 Effect of Pro-CQD NPs (0, 50 and 100 mg L−1) treatments under non-stress (A) and 100 mM NaCl salt stress conditions (B) on Vitis vinifera cv. ‘Rasha’ plant phenotypes. i: no treatment; ii: Pro-CQDs NPs 50 mg L−1; iii: Pro-CQDs NPs 100 mg L−1. (DOCX 662 kb)

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Gohari, G., Panahirad, S., Sepehri, N. et al. Enhanced tolerance to salinity stress in grapevine plants through application of carbon quantum dots functionalized by proline. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 42877–42890 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13794-w

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