Zinc oxide nanoparticles influence on plant tolerance to salinity stress: insights into physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses.

A slight variation in ecological milieu of plants, like drought, heavy metal toxicity, abrupt changes in temperature, flood, and salt stress disturbs the usual homeostasis or metabolism in plants. Among these stresses, salinity stress is particularly detrimental to the plants, leading to toxic effects and reduce crop productivity. In a saline environment, the accumulation of sodium and chloride ions up to toxic levels significantly correlates with intracellular osmotic pressure, and can result in morphological, physiological, and molecular alterations in plants. Increased soil salinity triggers salt stress signals that activate various cellular-subcellular mechanisms in plants to enable their survival in saline conditions. Plants can adapt saline conditions by maintaining ion homeostasis, activating osmotic stress pathways, modulating phytohormone signaling, regulating cytoskeleton dynamics, and maintaining cell wall integrity. To address ionic toxicity, researchers from diverse disciplines have explored novel approaches to support plant growth and enhance their resilience. One such approach is the application of nanoparticles as a foliar spray or seed priming agents positively improve the crop quality and yield by activating germination enzymes, maintaining reactive oxygen species homeostasis, promoting synthesis of compatible solutes, stimulating antioxidant defense mechanisms, and facilitating the formation of aquaporins in seeds and root cells for efficient water absorption under various abiotic stresses. Thus, the assessment mainly targets to provide an outline of the impact of salinity stress on plant metabolism and the resistance strategies employed by plants. Additionally, the review also summarized recent research efforts exploring the innovative applications of zinc oxide nanoparticles for reducing salt stress at biochemical, physiological, and molecular levels.

Effects of environmental metal and metalloid pollutants on plants and human health: exploring nano-remediation approach.

Metal and metalloid pollutants severely threatens environmental ecosystems and human health, necessitating effective remediation strategies. Nanoparticle (NPs)-based approaches have gained significant attention as promising solutions for efficient removing heavy metals from various environmental matrices. The present review is focused on green synthesized NPs-mediated remediation such as the implementation of iron, carbon-based nanomaterials, metal oxides, and bio-based NPs. The review also explores the mechanisms of NPs interactions with heavy metals, including adsorption, precipitation, and redox reactions. Critical factors influencing the remediation efficiency, such as NPs size, surface charge, and composition, are systematically examined. Furthermore, the environmental fate, transport, and potential risks associated with the application of NPs are critically evaluated. The review also highlights various sources of metal and metalloid pollutants and their impact on human health and translocation in plant tissues. Prospects and challenges in translating NPs-based remediation from laboratory research to real-world applications are proposed. The current work will be helpful to direct future research endeavors and promote the sustainable implementation of metal and metalloid elimination.

Carbon Nanodot-Microbe-Plant Nexus in Agroecosystem and Antimicrobial Applications.

The intensive applications of nanomaterials in the agroecosystem led to the creation of several environmental problems. More efforts are needed to discover new insights in the nanomaterial-microbe-plant nexus. This relationship has several dimensions, which may include the transport of nanomaterials to different plant organs, the nanotoxicity to soil microbes and plants, and different possible regulations. This review focuses on the challenges and prospects of the nanomaterial-microbe-plant nexus under agroecosystem conditions. The previous nano-forms were selected in this study because of the rare, published articles on such nanomaterials. Under the study's nexus, more insights on the carbon nanodot-microbe-plant nexus were discussed along with the role of the new frontier in nano-tellurium-microbe nexus. Transport of nanomaterials to different plant organs under possible applications, and translocation of these nanoparticles besides their expected nanotoxicity to soil microbes will be also reported in the current study. Nanotoxicity to soil microbes and plants was investigated by taking account of morpho-physiological, molecular, and biochemical concerns. This study highlights the regulations of nanotoxicity with a focus on risk and challenges at the ecological level and their risks to human health, along with the scientific and organizational levels. This study opens many windows in such studies nexus which are needed in the near future.

In silico and network pharmacology analysis of fucosterol: a potent anticancer bioactive compound against HCC.

The Fucaceae family of marine brown algae includes Ascophyllum nodosum. Fucosterol (FSL) is a unique bioactive component that was identified through GC-MS analysis of the hydroalcoholic extract of A. nodosum. Fucosterol's mechanism of action towards hepatocellular cancer was clarified using network pharmacology and docking study techniques. The probable target gene of FSL has been predicted using the TargetNet and SwissTargetPred databases. GeneCards and the DisGNet database were used to check the targeted genes of FSL. By using the web programme Venny 2.1, the overlaps of FSL and HCC disease demonstrated that 18 genes (1.3%) were obtained as targeted genes Via the STRING database, a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network with 18 common target genes was constructed. With the aid of CytoNCA, hub genes were screened using the Cytoscape software, and the targets' hub genes were exported into the ShinyGo online tool for study of KEGG and gene ontology enrichment. Using the software AutoDock, a hub gene molecular docking study was performed. Ten genes, including AR, CYP19A1, ESR1, ESR2, TNF, PPARA, PPARG, HMGCR, SRC, and IGF1R, were obtained. The 10 targeted hubs docked with FSL successfully. The active components FSL of ASD, the FSL, are engaged in fatty liver disease, cancer pathways, and other signalling pathways, which could prove beneficial for the management of HCC.

Network pharmacology of apigeniflavan: a novel bioactive compound of Trema orientalis Linn. in the treatment of pancreatic cancer through bioinformatics approaches.

Pancreatic cancer is the seventh most prevalent cause of mortality globally. Since time immemorial, plant-derived products have been in use as therapeutic agents due to the existence of biologically active molecules called secondary metabolites. Flavonoids obtained from plants participate in cell cycle arrest, induce autophagy and apoptosis, and decrease oxidative stress in pancreatic cancer. The present study involves network pharmacology-based study of the methanolic leaf extract of Trema orientalis (MLETO) Linn. From the high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) analysis, 21 nucleated flavonoids were screened out, of which only apigeniflavan was selected for further studies because it followed Lipinski's rule and showed no toxicity. The pharmacokinetics and physiochemical characteristics of apigeniflavan were performed using the online web servers pkCSM, Swiss ADME, and ProTox-II. This is the first in silico study to report the efficiency of apigeniflavan in pancreatic cancer treatment. The targets of apigeniflavan were fetched from SwissTargetPrediction database. The targets of pancreatic cancer were retrieved from DisGeNET and GeneCards. The protein-protein interaction of the common genes using Cytoscape yielded the top five hub genes: KDR, VEGFA, AKT1, SRC, and ESR1. Upon molecular docking, the lowest binding energies corresponded to best docking score which indicated the highest protein-ligand affinity. Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database was employed to see the involvement of hub genes in pathways related to pancreatic cancer. The following, pancreatic cancer pathway, MAPK, VEGF, PI3K-Akt, and ErbB signaling pathways, were found to be significant. Our results indicate the involvement of the hub genes in tumor growth, invasion and proliferation in the above-mentioned pathways, and therefore necessitating their downregulation. Moreover, apigeniflavan can flourish as a promising drug for the treatment of pancreatic cancer in future.

Network pharmacology-based anti-pancreatic cancer potential of kaempferol and catechin of Trema orientalis L. through computational approach.

In pancreatic cancer, healthy cells in the pancreas begin to malfunction and proliferate out of control. According to our conventional knowledge, many plants contain several novel bioactive compounds, having pharmaceutical applications for the treatment of disease like pancreatic cancer. The methanolic fraction of fruit extract of Trema orientalis L. (MFETO) was analysed through HRMS. In this in silico study, pharmacokinetic and physicochemical properties of the identified flavonoids from MFETO were screened out by ADMET analysis. Kaempferol and catechin followed Lipinski rules and showed no toxicity in Protox II. Targets of these compounds were taken from SwissTarget prediction and TCMSP whilst targets for pancreatic cancer were taken from GeneCards and DisGeNET databases. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of common genes was generated through STRING and then exported to the Cytoscape to get top 5 hub genes (AKT1, SRC, EGFR, TNF, and CASP3). The interaction between compounds and hub genes was analysed using molecular docking, and high binding affinity between them can be visualised by Biovia discovery studio visualizer. Our study shows that, five hub genes related to pancreatic cancer play an important role in tumour growth induction, invasion and migration. Kaempferol effectively check cell migration by inhibiting ERK1/2, EGFR-related SRC, and AKT pathways by scavenging ROS whilst catechin inhibited TNFα-induced activation and cell cycle arrest at G1 and G2/M phases by induction of apoptosis of malignant cells. Kaempferol and catechin containing MFETO can be used for formulation of potent drugs for pancreatic cancer treatment in future.