28th-29th March, 2018: Fiatal Biotechnológusok Országos Konferenciája, Budapest, Hungary

[Z. Klencsar]

The conference "Fiatal Biotechnológusok Országos Konferenciája" (FIBOK 2018) was held during the days March 28 - 29, 2018, at the Loránd Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary. On the conference Viktória Halasy presented a poster on the quantitative real-time pcr analysis of the utilization of ferrihydrite nanomaterial by cucumber plant. A corresponding abstract with the content given below has been published on page 119 of the abstract book available for download from http://fibok2018.elte.hu/images/FIBOK_2018_konyvjelzos.pdf.

Quantitative real-time pcr analysis of the utilization of an iron-containing nanomaterial by a dicot model plant

Viktória Halasy 1, Krisztina Kovács 2, Zoltán Klencsár 3, Zoltán Homonnay 2, Ferenc Fodor 1, László Tamás 1, Ádám Solti 1, Sára Pólya 1

1 Department of Plant Physiology and Molecular Plant Biology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány. 1/C., 1117 Budapest, Hungary
2 Department of Analytical Chemistry, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány. 1/A., 1117 Budapest, Hungary
3 Institute of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Magyar Tudósok körútja 2., 1117 Budapest, Hungary

Since plants represent the primary source of iron in human consumption, iron deficiency is among the most common nutritional disorders. Due to suboptimal soil conditions (alkaline pH or high carbonate content) iron can precipitate in the soil that reduces its availability for plants in many agricultural areas. The applications of iron-containing nanoparticles such as nanoferrihydrite (NH) as fertilizer ingredients could be effective to treat iron deficiency of plants. NH is thought to be effective in increasing the available iron content of soils, providing a stable but efficient iron supply even at alkaline pH, similarly to commercial chelates and complexes like Fe-EDTA and Fe-citrate, respectively. Moreover, testing the utilisation of a new substance requires a reliable system. Molecular biological methods contribute testing the utilisation of the nanoparticles in the iron uptake of plants. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) is found appropriate for measuring the gene expression of key components of the iron uptake system. Here we focused on the root iron uptake system in a dicot model plant, cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. cv. Joker F1). A key enzyme of this system is the ferric-chelate oxidoreductase (FRO1) – an iron deficiency inducible membrane bound enzyme that is responsible for the reduction of iron at the root surface. We identified the homolog of Arabidopsis Fro2 gene in cucumber genome. Furthermore, to investigate the bio-utilisation of iron content of NH by cucumber roots, changes in the expression of CsFro1 were monitored by qRT-PCR upon NH treatment. The results indicate that the expression of CsFro1 is enhanced by iron deficiency but upon NH treatment it started to decrease and the tendency for decrease has become apparent within thirty minutes. This proves that the utilization of the iron content of NH has been carried out in a very short time frame. Moreover, molecular methods can be successfully used in testing the effects of nanomaterials and thus the results contribute to adjusting the proper dosage of the material, which can successfully cure iron deficiency of plants.

This work has been supported by the grants NKFIH-OTKA K1 115913 and K115784. Á. Solti was also supported by the Bolyai János Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (BO/00207/15/4).