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Abstract
Widespread commercial application of titanium dioxide nanoparticles leads to their dispersion in the environment and inevitable interaction with living organisms. Their presence necessitates the monitoring of nanoparticle interactions with plants using advanced techniques that are capable of noninvasively and sensitively estimating the changes involved in the biochemical profile. The current study aims to investigate the effects of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on biochemicals of wheat leaves using label free, nondestructive, rapid, sensitive, and advanced spectroscopic probes: laser induced fluorescence and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy coupled with multivariate analysis. The fluorescence and infrared spectra of control and titanium dioxide nanoparticle treated wheat leaves were acquired in the region from 400 to 800 nm and 4000 to 485 cm−1. The treatment of titanium dioxide nanoparticles decreases the chlorophyll content and the concentrations of cellulose, hemicellulose, xyloglucans, pectin, and lignin indicating interferences in the biosynthesis and structure of cell walls of the wheat leaves. The level of amide I, carbonyl, and methylene groups also increases following the treatment of titanium dioxide nanoparticles indicating lipid and protein peroxidation and the accumulation of carbonyl compounds. The changes in the integrated area ratios of the amide II/amide I, carbonyl/methyl, and methylene/amide II bands demonstrate disorder in the membrane integrity. This study establishes the efficiency of noninvasive, label-free, and rapid protocols based on attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared and laser induced fluorescence to monitor the interactions of nanoparticles with plants at early stage of plant growth before visual signs of toxicity appear.
Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to Prof. M.M. Joshi and Prof. R. Gopal, former head, Department of Physics for their keen interest in this work and Dr. Kamlesh Panday and Dr M. Devedi, NCEMP, University of Allahabad, Allahabad for their kind support in recording XRD pattern and SEM image of titanium dioxide nanoparticles.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflicts of interest are reported by the authors.
Funding
The authors are grateful to UGC, New Delhi for providing financial assistance to create the ATR-FTIR facility under UGC–CAS program to the Department of Physics, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, India. Sweta Sharma is also thankful to UGC, New Delhi for the financial assistance in form of SRF (NET) scholarship.