Abstract
Cadmium (Cd), a toxic heavy metal, causes morpho-physiological changes in plants, ultimately reducing growth and productivity. Nanoparticle (NP)-mediated Cd-toxicity mitigation in plants is eco-friendly and cost-effective. However, the mechanisms underlying NP-Cd interactions in soybeans remain unclear. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of foliar and soil treatments with zinc oxide NPs (ZnO-NPs) on soybeans under Cd stress using untargeted metabolomic profiling. ZnO-NPs were synthesized through a green process utilizing an orange peel extract. According to SEM, XRD, and TEM analysis, the green-synthesized ZnO-NPs exhibited a spherical morphology with moderate aggregation, a uniform size distribution (27-48 nm), and high elemental purity confirming successful synthesis and structural integrity. Soil and foliar applications with ZnO-NPs (100-1000 mgL -1 ) under Cd toxicity reduced Cd content, enhanced Zn content, and restored photosynthetic activity. Furthermore, Org(organic)-ZnO-NPs increased chlorophyll content and regulated antioxidant activity. Metabolomic analysis revealed 219 and 298 non-targeted metabolites in soybean leaves and roots under normal and Cd-stressed conditions, respectively. These metabolites belong to various classes, including glycerophospholipids, flavonoids, and prenolipids, and are essential in maintaining membrane stability and supporting plant defense mechanisms. Treatment with Org-ZnO-NPs restored 45.7% (leaf) and 35.7% (root) of Cd-disrupted metabolite accumulation to normal levels. Our findings show that green-synthesized ZnO-NPs effectively regulate heavy metal uptake, repair photosynthetic machinery damage, and restore metabolite levels disrupted by Cd toxicity, offering a sustainable strategy for remediating Cd-contaminated soils. Future research should aim to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of ZnO-NPs action and evaluate their efficacy through field-scale trials under diverse environmental conditions.
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Claims 11
Claim · model-written summary
Green-synthesized ZnO nanoparticles had spherical morphology, moderate aggregation, uniform size distribution, and high elemental purity.
Verbatim
e0“the green-synthesized ZnO-NPs exhibited a spherical morphology with moderate aggregation, a uniform size distribution (27-48 nm), and high elemental purity”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil and foliar ZnO nanoparticle applications under cadmium toxicity reduced soybean cadmium content.
- Taxon
- soybean
Glycine maxt0 - Treatment
- Soil and foliar applications with ZnO-NPs (100-1000 mgL -1 )e0
- Outcome
- Cd contente0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Qualifier
- under Cd toxicitye0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“soybean”
e0“Soil and foliar applications with ZnO-NPs (100-1000 mgL -1 ) under Cd toxicity reduced Cd content, enhanced Zn content, and restored photosynthetic activity.”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil and foliar ZnO nanoparticle applications under cadmium toxicity enhanced soybean zinc content.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Treatment
- Soil and foliar applications with ZnO-NPs (100-1000 mgL -1 )e0
- Outcome
- Zn contente0
- Direction
- enhancede0
- Qualifier
- under Cd toxicitye0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“soybean”
e0“Soil and foliar applications with ZnO-NPs (100-1000 mgL -1 ) under Cd toxicity reduced Cd content, enhanced Zn content, and restored photosynthetic activity.”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil and foliar ZnO nanoparticle applications under cadmium toxicity restored soybean photosynthetic activity.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Treatment
- Soil and foliar applications with ZnO-NPs (100-1000 mgL -1 )e0
- Outcome
- photosynthetic activitye0
- Direction
- restorede0
- Qualifier
- under Cd toxicitye0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“soybean”
e0“Soil and foliar applications with ZnO-NPs (100-1000 mgL -1 ) under Cd toxicity reduced Cd content, enhanced Zn content, and restored photosynthetic activity.”
Claim · model-written summary
Organic ZnO nanoparticles increased soybean chlorophyll content.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Treatment
- Org(organic)-ZnO-NPse0
- Outcome
- chlorophyll contente0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“soybean”
e0“Org(organic)-ZnO-NPs increased chlorophyll content and regulated antioxidant activity.”
Claim · model-written summary
Organic ZnO nanoparticles regulated soybean antioxidant activity; the direction was unspecified.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Treatment
- Org(organic)-ZnO-NPse0
- Outcome
- antioxidant activitye0
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“soybean”
e0“Org(organic)-ZnO-NPs increased chlorophyll content and regulated antioxidant activity.”
Claim · model-written summary
Metabolomic analysis detected 219 non-targeted metabolites in soybean leaves under normal and cadmium-stressed conditions.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxe0
- Organ / stage
- leavese0
- Outcome
- non-targeted metabolites in soybean leavese0
- Value
- 219e0
- Qualifier
- under normal and Cd-stressed conditionse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Metabolomic analysis revealed 219 and 298 non-targeted metabolites in soybean leaves and roots under normal and Cd-stressed conditions, respectively.”
Claim · model-written summary
Metabolomic analysis detected 298 non-targeted metabolites in soybean roots under normal and cadmium-stressed conditions.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxe0
- Organ / stage
- rootse0
- Outcome
- non-targeted metabolites in soybean leaves and rootse0
- Value
- 298e0
- Qualifier
- under normal and Cd-stressed conditionse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Metabolomic analysis revealed 219 and 298 non-targeted metabolites in soybean leaves and roots under normal and Cd-stressed conditions, respectively.”
Claim · model-written summary
The detected soybean metabolites included glycerophospholipids, flavonoids, and prenolipids.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Outcome
- glycerophospholipids, flavonoids, and prenolipidse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“soybean”
e0“These metabolites belong to various classes, including glycerophospholipids, flavonoids, and prenolipids”
Claim · model-written summary
Organic ZnO nanoparticles restored 45.7% of cadmium-disrupted metabolite accumulation in soybean leaves to normal levels.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Organ / stage
- leafe0
- Treatment
- Org-ZnO-NPse0
- Outcome
- Cd-disrupted metabolite accumulatione0
- Direction
- restorede0
- Value
- 45.7%e0
- Comparator
- normal levelse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“soybean”
e0“Treatment with Org-ZnO-NPs restored 45.7% (leaf) and 35.7% (root) of Cd-disrupted metabolite accumulation to normal levels.”
Claim · model-written summary
Organic ZnO nanoparticles restored 35.7% of cadmium-disrupted metabolite accumulation in soybean roots to normal levels.
- Taxon
- soybeanGlycine maxt0
- Organ / stage
- roote0
- Treatment
- Org-ZnO-NPse0
- Outcome
- Cd-disrupted metabolite accumulatione0
- Direction
- restorede0
- Value
- 35.7%e0
- Comparator
- normal levelse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“soybean”
e0“Treatment with Org-ZnO-NPs restored 45.7% (leaf) and 35.7% (root) of Cd-disrupted metabolite accumulation to normal levels.”
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