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[1]¿p#1 GSH–AsA Cycle-Mediated “Vaccine”-Like Priming Induced by Low-Dose Polystyrene Nanoplastics Enhances Plant Stress Resilience
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Tomato plants pre-exposed to low doses of polystyrene nanoplastics developed a form of stress memory that protected them from damage when later exposed to higher doses — a 'vaccine-like' priming effect. The mechanism involves upregulation of the plant's glutathione-ascorbate antioxidant system, which scavenges the cell-damaging reactive oxygen species triggered by nanoplastics. While this adaptive response is scientifically interesting, it also signals that nanoplastics are causing measurable biochemical stress in food crops even at low concentrations.
Nanoplastics (NPs) pollution threatens agriculture, yet plant adaptive mechanisms remain unclear; however, research on enhancing plant resistance through targeted regulation remains scarce. Here, we demonstrate a “vaccine effect” in tomato plants, where low-dose PS-NPs pretreatment (10 mg/L) significantly alleviates the growth inhibition caused by subsequent high-dose stress (50 mg/L). This was achieved by restored photosynthetic homeostasis (Fv/Fm: 0.82±0.02), and mitigating oxidative damage to chloroplasts and cell membranes. Further integrated multi-omics analysis identified the glutathione-ascorbate (GSH-AsA) cycle as the core regulatory hub. The pretreatment specifically reprogrammed this cycle through transcriptional up-regulation and enhanced enzyme activities, thereby ensuring efficient reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging and redox homeostasis. Molecular docking simulations further substantiated this protective mechanism, revealing that PS-NPs exhibit high binding affinity to the catalytic sites of key enzymes (e.g., APX2, binding energy: -6.062 kcal/mol). This potential inhibition was appeared to be counteracted by the increased abundance of these enzymes induced by the pretreatment. This study elucidates, for the first time, a GSH-AsA cycle-mediated ”stress memory” mechanism in plants triggered by NPs priming. It provides novel insights into plant adaptive responses to emerging contaminants and a potential strategy for enhancing crop resilience in plastic-polluted agroecosystems.
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GSH–AsACycle-Mediated “Vaccine-like”Priming Induced by Low-Dose Polystyrene Nanoplastics Enhances PlantStress Resilience
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