ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.

Sec. Plant Biotechnology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1611582

This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Plant Defense: Genome Editing, RNAi, and Synthetic Biology for Sustainable Pest ControlView all 5 articles

Aspergillus-derived β-glucan nanoparticles: A Dual strategy for Fusarium Wilt management and Tomato plant growth enhancement

Provisionally accepted
  • 1Department of Biochemistry, Division of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, Karnataka, India
  • 2Department of Plant Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

A soilborne Ascomycete, Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersicum, is the causative agent of wilt disease, posing a significant threat to tomato plants and severely impacting global tomato production.Chemical fungicides are the primary strategy for controlling it. Employing fungicides arbitrarily and in huge dosages can pollute the environment and harm field workers and customers. To combat tomato wilt, we synthesized β-glucan (isolated from the marine algal associate Aspergillus awamori) nanoparticles (β-glu-n) and evaluated their efficacy in promoting plant growth and suppressing Fusarium oxysporum. The synthesized β-glu-n was confirmed using NMR and IR spectroscopy. The spherical shape with a smooth surface and average size of 35 ± 6.0 nm was observed by TEM. The hydrostatic zeta potential was -38.40 mV, indicating colloidal stability. The crystalline structure of the β-glu-n was confirmed by the XRD spectrum. Furthermore, a significant seed germination and growth profile, including higher shoot and root length and lateral root, was observed in the β-glu-n-treated tomato seeds count than in the mycelial glucan (m-β-glu) and control group under glasshouse conditions. Moreover, novel protein polypeptides were derived from β-glu-n-treated plants, indicating the increased photosynthetic rate. β-glu-n inhibited Fusarium oxysporum in a disc diffusion test and reduced wilt symptoms in under detached leaf assay. These results suggest that β-glucan nanoparticles can promote plant growth and prevent tomato wilt disease.

Keywords: Aspergillus awamori, β-glucan nanoparticles, Tomato wilt, Fusarium oxysporum, Detached leaf assay

Received: 14 Apr 2025; Accepted: 09 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Ramalingam and Appu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Parthasarathy Ramalingam, Department of Biochemistry, Division of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, 560012, Karnataka, India

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