Experiments show that coating rice seedlings with durian-derived nanoscale carbon dots helps rice grow in saline soils

Abnormal weather and pollution have increased salinity in some soils, making growing conditions harsher for salt-sensitive crops such as rice. Now, in ACS Nano, researchers detail a possible solution to growing rice under these conditions that does not require genetic modification. Laboratory experiments show that coating rice seedlings with magnesium-doped carbon dots derived from durian peel increases antioxidant activity and photosynthesis in seedlings, reducing stress caused by saline soils. It turns out.

The current state-of-the-art solution for increasing stress tolerance in plants is gene editing. However, gene editing techniques can be cost-prohibitive, and some are concerned about the health effects and safety of genetically modified foods.

One potential alternative to genetic engineering is coating plant leaves with nanoscale carbon dots that mimic plant antioxidant enzymes and combat oxidative stress. So Longwei Jiang, Jianguo Zeng and colleagues designed carbon dots made from crushed durian skin that can neutralize reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reduce damage to rice plants caused by salt stress.

Durian skin is not edible and accounts for 70-85% of the fruit’s weight. Hides are also high in carbon, making discarded hides an excellent source of biomass-derived carbon dots. The researchers doped durian-derived carbon dots with magnesium, an element essential for plant growth, and sprayed them on rice seedlings planted in saline and saline soils.

The research team found that seedlings treated with dots had lower levels of ROS than untreated seedlings and grew higher in saline soils. Additionally, treated seedlings activated plant defense and photosynthesis genes that were not activated in untreated seedlings.

Researchers caution that more information is needed to better understand how the dots cause changes in cells and genes. More information is also needed about the effects of treated plants on the environment and on the humans and animals that consume them. However, this study concludes that carbon dots represent a potential strategy to increase salt tolerance in plants and provide valuable insights for agricultural applications.