Phytonanotechnology plays a crucial part in the production of good quality and high-yield food. It can also alter the plant's production systems, hence permitting the efficient, controlled and stable release of agrochemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides. An advanced understanding of nanomaterials interaction with plant responses like localization and uptake, etc. could transfigure the production of crops with high disease resistance and efficient nutrients utilization. In agriculture, the use of nanomaterials has gained acceptance due to their wide-range applications. However, their toxicity and bioavailability are the major hurdles for their massive employment. Undoubtedly, nanoparticles positively influence seeds germination, growth and development, stress management and post-harvest handling of vegetables and fruits. These nanoparticles may also cause toxicity in plants through oxidative stress by generation of excessive reactive oxygen species thus affecting the cellular biomolecules and targeting different channels. Nanoparticles have shown to exert various effects on plants that are mainly affected by various attributes such as physicochemical features of nanomaterials, coating materials for nanoparticles, type of plant, growth stages and growth medium for plants. This article discusses the interaction, accretion and toxicity of nanomaterials in plants. The factors inducing nanotoxicity and the mechanisms followed by nanomaterials causing toxicity are also instructed. At the end, detoxification mechanism of plant is also presented.

Background: The Arabidopsis CONSTITUTIVE EXPRESSER of PATHOGENESIS-RELATED GENES 5 (CPR5) has recently been shown to play a role in gating as part of the nuclear pore complex (NPC). Mutations in CPR5 cause multiple defects, including aberrant trichomes, reduced ploidy levels, reduced growth and enhanced resistance to bacterial and fungal pathogens. The pleiotropic nature of cpr5 mutations implicates that the CPR5 protein affects multiple pathways. However, little is known about the structural features that allow CPR5 to affect the different pathways. Results: Our in silico studies suggest that in addition to three clusters of putative nuclear localization signals and four or five transmembrane domains, CPR5 contains two putative alternative translation start sites. To test the role of the methionine-encoding nucleotides implicated in those sites, metCPR5 cDNAs, in which the relevant nucleotides were changed to encode glutamine, were fused to the CPR5 native promoter and the constructs transformed to cpr5–2 plants to complement cpr5-compromised phenotypes. The control and metCPR5 constructs were able to complement all cpr5 phenotypes, although the extent of complementation depended on the specific complementing plant lines. Remarkably, plants transformed with metCPR5 constructs showed larger leaves and displayed reduced resistance when challenged to Pseudomonas syringae pv Pst DC3000, as compared to control plants. Thus, the methionine-encoding nucleotides regulate growth and resistance. We propose that structural features of the CPR5 N-terminus are implicated in selective gating of proteins involved in regulating the balance between growth and resistance. Conclusion: Plants need to carefully balance the amount of resources used for growth and resistance. The Arabidopsis CPR5 protein regulates plant growth and immunity. Here we show that N-terminal features of CPR5 are involved in the regulation of the balance between growth and resistance. These findings may benefit efforts to improve plant yield, while maintaining optimal levels of disease resistance.

Rapid and cost-efficient whole-genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is critical for understanding viral transmission dynamics. Here we show that using a new multiplexed set of primers in conjunction with the Oxford Nanopore Rapid Barcode library kit allows for faster, simpler, and less expensive SARS-CoV-2 genome sequencing. This primer set results in amplicons that exhibit lower levels of variation in coverage compared to other commonly used primer sets. Using five SARS-CoV-2 patient samples with C _q values between 20 and 31, we show that high-quality genomes can be generated with as few as 10,000 reads (approximately 5 Mbp of sequence data). We also show that mis-classification of barcodes, which may be more likely when using the Oxford Nanopore Rapid Barcode library prep, is unlikely to cause problems in variant calling. This method reduces the time from RNA to genome sequence by more than half compared to the more standard ligation-based Oxford Nanopore library preparation method at considerably lower costs.

Leguminous crops are usually sensitive to saline stress during germination and plant growth stages. The Salt Overly Sensitive (SOS) pathway is one of the key signaling pathways involved in salt translocation and tolerance in plants however, it is obscure in soybean. The current study describes the potential of calcium application on the mitigation of salinity stress and its impact on seed germination, morphological, physiological and biochemical attributes of soybean. The seeds from previously reported salt-tolerant and salt-susceptible soybean varieties were primed with water, calcium (10 and 20 mM), and stressed under 60, 80 and 100 mM NaCl and evaluated in various combinations. Results show that germination increased by 7% in calcium primed non-stressed seeds under non-stressing, whereas an improvement of 15%-25% was observed in germination under NaCl stress. Likewise, improvement in seedling length (3%-8%), plant height (9%-18%), number of nodes (3%-14%), SOD activity (20%) and Na⁺/K⁺ concentration (3%-5% reduction) in calcium primed plants, indicates alleviation of salinity-induced negative effects. In addition, this study also included in silico identification and confirmation of presence of Arabidopsis thaliana SOS genes orthologs in soybean. The research of amino acid sequences of SOS proteins from Arabidopsis thaliana (AtSOSs) within Glycine max genome displayed protein identity (60–80%) thus these identified homologs were called as GmSOS. Further phylogeny and in silico analyses showed that GmSOS orthologs contain similar gene structures, close evolutionary relationship, and same conserved motifs, reinforcing that GmSOSs belong to SOS family and they share many common features with orthologs from other species thus may perform similar functions. This is the first study that reports role of SOSs in salt-stress mitigation in soybean.

Mung bean is one of the economically important leguminous crops generally grown in arid region of Pakistan. Mung bean grows best at 30-35℃ and is a nutrient enriched crop with higher amounts of starch (50%), proteins (18-25%), fat (3%) and fiber (3-4.5%). Many biotic factors affect crop production. Yield losses due to biotic factors are up to 40-80% in mung bean. Cercospora leaf spot (CLS) is very common disease in mung bean caused by hemi-biotrophic fungal pathogen Cercospora canescens. For sustainable agrocontrol there is need to develop alternative solutions for conventional methods. Green synthesized nanoparticles offer promising solution to mitigate adverse effect of agrochemicals and fungicides. In this review green synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles used to mitigate the disease severity by seed priming with 50mgL-1 and 150mgL-1 nanoparticles (NPs) suspension solution in mung bean. The result shows that 50mgL-1 Tio2-NPs inhibit fungal growth by 87.85% in in vitro and 74.07% in in vivo experiment. Tio2-NPs application improve root, shoot, leaf surface area, chlorophyll content, stomatal conductance and boost plant immunity by enhancing expression of the Pathogenesis-related (PR-1) gene in response stress. Therefore, present study indicates that green synthesized Tio2-NPs is an effective way to enhance the growth and productivity of mung bean by inhibiting C. canescens.

Introduction and importance: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is recognized as one of the leading causes of human death. This case highlights the importance of whole-exome sequencing (WES) and genetic diagnosis in families. Case Presentation: A 4-year-old girl (subject) was diagnosed with CKD along with her father, grandfather, and grandmother. The subject was first evaluated at 4 years of age because of black urine problem. On early diagnosis, it was kidney stones. She was suspected to be affected with kidney disorder by ultrasound and is being evaluated for the presence genetic variations by WES. We identified a missense variation in GRHPR gene c.494 G>A in subject, and her 27-year-old father was also identified with the same variation in the GRHPR gene. On follow-up, kidney stones were removed via extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL). Following ESWL sections, the subject was stable and sent home. Clinical discussion: Genetic diagnoses are essential for identifying diseases, which aid in early diagnosis and control to spread within families. This case highlights the value of advanced genetic testing in nephrology for precision diagnosis and family risk assessment. Conclusion: A multidisciplinary approach and timely intervention in CKD are vital to prevent complications in families.