Open Access

ARTICLE

Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles Promote Root Growth by Interfering with Auxin Pathways in Arabidopsis thaliana

Jiali Wei^*, Ying Zou, Ping Li, Xiaojun Yuan

Shanghai Key Laboratory of Bio-Energy Crops, Research Center for Natural Products, Plant Science Center, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China

* Corresponding Author: Jiali Wei. Email:

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2020, 89(4), 883-891. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2020.010973

Received 13 April 2020; Accepted 29 April 2020; Issue published 09 November 2020

Abstract

TiO₂ nanoparticles (nano-TiO₂) are widely used in the world, and a considerable amount of nano-TiO₂ is released into the environment, with toxic effects on organisms. In the various species of higher plants, growth, including seed germination, root elongation, and biomass accumulation, is affected by nano-TiO₂. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain to be elucidated. In this study, we observed that nano-TiO₂ promoted root elongation in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, we found that nano-TiO₂ elevated auxin accumulation in the root tips of the auxin marker lines DII-VENUS and DR5:: GUS, and, correspondingly, quantitative real-time PCR analysis revealed that nano-TiO₂ increased the expression levels of auxin biosynthesis- and transportrelated genes. GFP fluorescence observation using transgenic PIN2-GFP indicated that nano-TiO₂ promoted root growth by inducing PIN2 accumulation. Thus, we propose that nano-TiO₂ promote root growth in Arabidopsis thaliana by altering the expression levels of auxin biosynthesis- and transport-related genes.

---

Keywords

---

Citations