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Summary Global food production faces persistent threats from environmental challenges and pathogenic attacks, leading to significant yield losses. Conventional strategies to combat pathogens, such as fungicides and disease‐resistant breeding, are limited by environmental contamination and emergence of pathogen resistance. Herein, we engineered sunlight‐sensitive and biodegradable carbon dots (CDs) capable of generating reactive oxygen species (ROS), offering a novel and sustainable approach for plant protection. Our study demonstrates that CDs function as dual‐purpose materials: priming plant immune responses and serving as broad‐spectrum antifungal agents. Foliar application of CDs generated ROS under light, and the ROS could damage the plant cell wall and trigger cell wall‐mediated immunity. Immune activation enhanced plant resistance against pathogens without compromising photosynthetic efficiency or yield. Specifically, spray treatment with CDs at 240 mg/L (2 mL per plant) reduced the incidence of grey mould inN. benthamianaand tomato leaves by 44% and 12%, respectively, and late blight in tomato leaves by 31%. Moreover, CDs (480 mg/L, 1 mL) combined with continuous sunlight irradiation (simulated by xenon lamp, 9.4 × 105lux) showed a broad‐spectrum antifungal activity. The inhibition ratios for mycelium growth were 66.5% forP. capsici, 8% forS. sclerotiorumand 100% forB. cinerea, respectively. Mechanistic studies revealed that CDs effectively inhibited mycelium growth by damaging hyphae and spore structures, thereby disrupting the propagation and vitality of pathogens. These findings suggest that CDs offer a promising, eco‐friendly strategy for sustainable crop protection, with potential for practical agricultural applications that maintain crop yields and minimize environmental impact.
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This content will become publicly available on June 11, 2026
Seed Infiltration with Polymer-Functionalized Carbon Dots Induces a Biotic Stress Response in Tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.)
Global food security is a pressing issue in our society. Maintaining food security in coming years will require improving crop yield, as well as increased resiliency to abiotic and biotic stress. Nanoscale materials have increasingly been proposed as a tool which could be used to meet these challenges. However, much research is needed to optimize nanoparticle design and crop application for this to become a reality. In this study, we investigated the impact of polymer-functionalized carbon dots on tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.). Tomato seeds were vacuum infiltrated with carbon dots and then grown for 3 weeks before collection of phenotypic and transcriptomic data. No changes to fresh biomass or chlorophyll content were observed, indicating that these particles can be applied without overt harm to the plant at early growth stages. In addition, changes in gene expression suggest that polymer-functionalized carbon dots can initiate the expression of biochemical pathways associated with a pathogen resistance response in tomato plants. Specifically, genes involved in ethylene signaling, ethylene production, and camalexin synthesis were upregulated. These findings suggest that seed priming with carbon dots may improve plant tolerance to biotic stress by modulating ethylene signaling pathways. Carbon dots could also be loaded with nutrients or other agrochemicals to create a multifunctional platform. Future work should focus on understanding the mechanisms by which nanoparticles can modulate ethylene signaling, enabling use of this knowledge to develop sustainable and effective nanoparticles for agricultural applications.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2001611
- PAR ID:
- 10610996
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Chemical Society
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ACS Agricultural Science & Technology
- ISSN:
- 2692-1952
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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