Phytotoxic and genotoxic effects of silver nanoparticles exposure on germinating wheat seedlings

• We used Proteomics, AFLP and TEM to study the effects of AgNPs on wheat seedlings.
• AgNP treatment does not have an appreciable effect on wheat DNA.
• AgNPs affect the levels of several proteins in multiple cellular compartments.
• TEM data suggest that the AgNP toxicity is driven primarily by released Ag ions.

We investigated the effects of 1 and 10 mg L−1 AgNPs on germinating Triticum aestivum L. seedlings. The exposure to 10 mg L−1 AgNPs adversely affected the seedling growth and induced morphological modifications in root tip cells. TEM analysis suggests that the observed effects were due primarily to the release of Ag ions from AgNPs.To gain an increased understanding of the molecular response to AgNP exposure, we analyzed the genomic and proteomic changes induced by AgNPs in wheat seedlings. At the DNA level, we applied the AFLP technique and we found that both treatments did not induce any significant DNA polymorphisms. 2DE profiling of roots and shoots treated with 10 mg L−1 of AgNPs revealed an altered expression of several proteins mainly involved in primary metabolism and cell defense.