ArticleMicrobiome2020
Nanoparticle treatment of maize analyzed through the metatranscriptome: compromised nitrogen cycling, possible phytopathogen selection, and plant hormesis.
Article in Microbiome, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Engineered nano-pesticides: a multifaceted strategy for sustainable crop protection and enhanced food security in the era of climate change.Plant signaling & behavior · 2026Review
- Review
- Review
- Nanoparticle-Induced Cross-Tolerance: A Review of Mechanisms for Concurrent Biotic and Abiotic Stress Mitigation in Crops.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Plant spatial compartmentalization buffers bacteriome structure and function under antibiotic stress.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Nanoparticle applications in agriculture: overview and response of plant-associated microorganisms.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Review
- Nano-enabled pesticides for sustainable agriculture and global food security.Nature nanotechnology · 2022Article
- Less Can Be More: The Hormesis Theory of Stress Adaptation in the Global Biosphere and Its Implications.Biomedicines · 2021Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe beneficial use of nanoparticle silver or nanosilver may be confounded when its potent antimicrobial properties impact non-target members of natural microbiomes such as those present in soil or the plant rhizosphere. Agricultural soils are a likely sink for nanosilver due to its presence in agrochemicals and land-applied biosolids, but a complete assessment of nanosilver's effects on this environment is lacking because the impact on the natural soil microbiome is not known. In a study assessing the use of nanosilver for phytopathogen control with maize, we analyzed the metatranscriptome of the maize rhizosphere and observed multiple unintended effects of exposure to 100 mg kg
resultsWe found several unintended effects of nanosilver which could interfere with agricultural systems in the long term. Firstly, the archaea community was negatively impacted with a more than 30% decrease in relative abundance, and as such, their involvement in nitrogen cycling and specifically, nitrification, was compromised. Secondly, certain potentially phytopathogenic fungal groups showed significantly increased abundances, possibly due to the negative effects of nanosilver on bacteria exerting natural biocontrol against these fungi as indicated by negative interactions in a network analysis. Up to 5-fold increases in relative abundance have been observed for certain possibly phytopathogenic fungal genera. Lastly, nanosilver exposure also caused a direct physiological impact on maize as illustrated by increased transcript abundance of aquaporin and phytohormone genes, overall resulting in a stress level with the potential to yield hormetically stimulated plant root growth.
conclusionsThis study indicates the occurrence of significant unintended effects of nanosilver use on corn, which could turn out to be negative to crop productivity and ecosystem health in the long term. We therefore highlight the need to include the microbiome when assessing the risk associated with nano-enabled agriculture. Video Abstract.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.