ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1657516
This article is part of the Research TopicPlant Stress Resistance: Unraveling the Mechanisms and Strategies for ResilienceView all 17 articles
Licorice-wolfberry-derived nanomaterial improves the germination rate of wheat under salt stress by maintaining reactive oxygen species homeostasis
Provisionally accepted
Wenya Wang1# Xiaomeng Lian1Zhiqian Li1Linfeng Bao1
Jiahao Liu1,2
Tingyong Mao1,2Desheng Wang1,2Lili Yang1Long Ma1*Lu Han1*- 1College of Agriculture, Tarim University, Aral, China
- 2Key Laboratory of Tarim Oasis Agriculture (Tarim University), Ministry of Education, Alar, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
The research on improving the salt tolerance of crops through plant nanobiotechnology has been extensively reported. However, the mechanism by which plant -derived nanomaterials enhance the germination rate of wheat under salt stress remains elusive. Unveiling the mechanism by which plant -derived nanomaterials boost the salt tolerance of wheat is conducive to safeguarding food security. Herein, we used mesoporous self-assembly licorice and wolfberry-derived complex nanomaterial (LW-CNs) to soak wheat (Triticum aestivum L) seeds. The size and zeta potential of LW-CNs were 42.2±8.2 nm and -19.6±1.5 eV, respectively. After 4 days of salt stress, LW-CNs-soaked wheat seeds presented a higher germination rate (78.4±8.3 vs 54.4±8.5%) and protein content (44.0±0.1 vs 39.1±0.2 mg g -1 ), but no significant effect was observed on fresh weight (2.6±0.4 vs 2.3±0.4 g). LW-CNs significantly increased the pigment content(chlorophyll a: 0.11±0.0 vs 0.03±0.0 mg g -1 , chlorophyll b: 0.05±0.0 vs 0.02±0.0 mg g -1 , and carotenoids: 10.3±0.0 vs 2.9±0.0 μg g -1 ). LW-CNs alleviated salt-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulated through increase superoxide dismutase (917.4±8.7 vs 767.5±1.6 U g -1 ), peroxidase (2458.7±5.0 vs 2070.5±14.8 U g -1 ), and catalase (158.3±3.9 vs 112.0±3.2 μmol min -1 g -1 ) activity.Soaking in LW-CNs maintained ROS homeostasis also through the ascorbic acidglutathione cycle. Furthermore, LW-CNs elevated the K⁺/Na⁺ ratio within wheat seeds and augmented the activities of nitrogen metabolism enzymes. Overall, our study demonstrates that soaking seeds with plant -derived nanomaterials promotes the growth and nutrient absorption of wheat under salt stress by modulating the homeostasis of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the K⁺/Na⁺ ratio.
Keywords: Licorice and wolfberry-derived complex nanomaterial, Triticum aestivum L., salt stress, ROS homeostasis, Germination
Received: 01 Jul 2025; Accepted: 11 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Lian, Li, Bao, Liu, Mao, Wang, Yang, Ma and Han. 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:
Long Ma, College of Agriculture, Tarim University, Aral, China
Lu Han, College of Agriculture, Tarim University, Aral, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.