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Effects of Few-Layer Graphene on the Sexual Reproduction of Seed Plants: An In Vivo Study with Cucurbita pepo L.
Products containing graphene-related materials (GRMs) are becoming quite common, raising concerns for environmental safety. GRMs have varying effects on plants, but their impact on the sexual reproduction process is largely unknown. In this study, the effects of few-layer graphene (FLG) and a simila...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7560101/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32961680 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano10091877 |
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author | Zanelli, Davide Candotto Carniel, Fabio Garrido, Marina Fortuna, Lorenzo Nepi, Massimo Cai, Giampiero Del Casino, Cecilia Vázquez, Ester Prato, Maurizio Tretiach, Mauro |
author_facet | Zanelli, Davide Candotto Carniel, Fabio Garrido, Marina Fortuna, Lorenzo Nepi, Massimo Cai, Giampiero Del Casino, Cecilia Vázquez, Ester Prato, Maurizio Tretiach, Mauro |
author_sort | Zanelli, Davide |
collection | PubMed |
description | Products containing graphene-related materials (GRMs) are becoming quite common, raising concerns for environmental safety. GRMs have varying effects on plants, but their impact on the sexual reproduction process is largely unknown. In this study, the effects of few-layer graphene (FLG) and a similarly layered phyllosilicate, muscovite mica (MICA), were tested in vivo on the reproductive structures, i.e., pollen and stigma, of Cucurbita pepo L. ssp. pepo ‘greyzini’ (summer squash, zucchini). Pollen was exposed to FLG or MICA, after careful physical-chemical characterization, at concentrations of 0.5 and 2 mg of nanomaterial (NM) per g of pollen for up to six hours. Following this, pollen viability was tested. Stigmas were exposed to FLG or MICA for three hours and then analyzed by environmental scanning electron microscopy to verify possible alterations to their surface. Stigmas were then hand-pollinated to verify the effects of the two NMs on pollen adhesion and in vivo pollen germination. FLG and MICA altered neither pollen viability nor the stigmatic surface. However, both NMs equivalently decreased pollen adhesion and in vivo germination compared with untreated stigmas. These effects deserve further attention as they could impact on production of fruits and seeds. Importantly, it was shown that FLG is as safe as a naturally occurring nanomaterial. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7560101 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-75601012020-10-22 Effects of Few-Layer Graphene on the Sexual Reproduction of Seed Plants: An In Vivo Study with Cucurbita pepo L. Zanelli, Davide Candotto Carniel, Fabio Garrido, Marina Fortuna, Lorenzo Nepi, Massimo Cai, Giampiero Del Casino, Cecilia Vázquez, Ester Prato, Maurizio Tretiach, Mauro Nanomaterials (Basel) Article Products containing graphene-related materials (GRMs) are becoming quite common, raising concerns for environmental safety. GRMs have varying effects on plants, but their impact on the sexual reproduction process is largely unknown. In this study, the effects of few-layer graphene (FLG) and a similarly layered phyllosilicate, muscovite mica (MICA), were tested in vivo on the reproductive structures, i.e., pollen and stigma, of Cucurbita pepo L. ssp. pepo ‘greyzini’ (summer squash, zucchini). Pollen was exposed to FLG or MICA, after careful physical-chemical characterization, at concentrations of 0.5 and 2 mg of nanomaterial (NM) per g of pollen for up to six hours. Following this, pollen viability was tested. Stigmas were exposed to FLG or MICA for three hours and then analyzed by environmental scanning electron microscopy to verify possible alterations to their surface. Stigmas were then hand-pollinated to verify the effects of the two NMs on pollen adhesion and in vivo pollen germination. FLG and MICA altered neither pollen viability nor the stigmatic surface. However, both NMs equivalently decreased pollen adhesion and in vivo germination compared with untreated stigmas. These effects deserve further attention as they could impact on production of fruits and seeds. Importantly, it was shown that FLG is as safe as a naturally occurring nanomaterial. MDPI 2020-09-19 /pmc/articles/PMC7560101/ /pubmed/32961680 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano10091877 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Zanelli, Davide Candotto Carniel, Fabio Garrido, Marina Fortuna, Lorenzo Nepi, Massimo Cai, Giampiero Del Casino, Cecilia Vázquez, Ester Prato, Maurizio Tretiach, Mauro Effects of Few-Layer Graphene on the Sexual Reproduction of Seed Plants: An In Vivo Study with Cucurbita pepo L. |
title | Effects of Few-Layer Graphene on the Sexual Reproduction of Seed Plants: An In Vivo Study with Cucurbita pepo L. |
title_full | Effects of Few-Layer Graphene on the Sexual Reproduction of Seed Plants: An In Vivo Study with Cucurbita pepo L. |
title_fullStr | Effects of Few-Layer Graphene on the Sexual Reproduction of Seed Plants: An In Vivo Study with Cucurbita pepo L. |
title_full_unstemmed | Effects of Few-Layer Graphene on the Sexual Reproduction of Seed Plants: An In Vivo Study with Cucurbita pepo L. |
title_short | Effects of Few-Layer Graphene on the Sexual Reproduction of Seed Plants: An In Vivo Study with Cucurbita pepo L. |
title_sort | effects of few-layer graphene on the sexual reproduction of seed plants: an in vivo study with cucurbita pepo l. |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7560101/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32961680 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano10091877 |
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