AUTHOR=Ashraf Hina , Batool Tanzeela , Anjum Tehmina , Illyas Aqsa , Li Guihua , Naseem Shahzad , Riaz Saira 

TITLE=Antifungal Potential of Green Synthesized Magnetite Nanoparticles Black Coffee–Magnetite Nanoparticles Against Wilt Infection by Ameliorating Enzymatic Activity and Gene Expression in Solanum lycopersicum L.

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.754292

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2022.754292

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=Tomato plants are prone to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Fusarium wilt is one of the most devasting diseases of tomatoes caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FOL), causing high yield and economic losses annually. Magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs) is one of the potent candidates to inhibit fungal infection by improving plant growth parameters. Spinach has been used as a starting material to synthesize green synthesized IONPs. Various extracts i.e., pomegranate juice (PJ), white vinegar (WV), pomegranate peel (PP), black coffee (BC), aloe vera peel (AP) and aspirin (As), had been used as reducing/stabilizing agents to tune the properties of the magnetite NPs (Fe3O4). After utilizing spinach as a precursor and black coffee (BC) as a reducing agent, the XRD pattern showed cubic magnetite (Fe3O4) phase. Spherical shaped nanoparticles (~20 nm) with superparamagnetic nature indicated by SEM monographs, whereas EDX gives good elemental composition in Fe3O4 NPs. A characteristic band of Fe-O at ~ 561 cm-1 was exhibited by FTIR spectrum. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) results confirmed the binding energies of Fe 2p3/2 (~710.9 eV) and Fe 2p1/2 (~724.5 eV) while, Raman bands at ~310 cm-1 (T2g), ~550 cm-1 (T2g) and 670 cm-1 (A1g) indicated the formation of Fe3O4 NPs synthesized using BC extract. In-vitro activity of BC- Fe3O4 NPs significantly inhibited the mycelial growth of F. oxysporum both at 3rd and 7th day after incubation, in a dose-dependent manner. In-vivo studies also exhibited a substantial reduction in disease severity and incidence by improving plant growth parameters after treatment with different concentrations of BC- Fe3O4 NPs. The increasing tendency in enzymatic activities had been measured after treatment with different concentrations of NPs both in roots and shoot of tomato plants as compared to the control. Correspondingly, up-regulation of PR-proteins and defense genes are in line with the results of the enzymatic activities. The outcome of the present finding suggests that magnetite NPs has the potential to control wilt infection by enhancing plant growth. Hence, Fe3O4 NPs, being non-phytotoxic, have impending scope in the agriculture sector to attain higher yield by managing plant diseases.