Nanosilver: A New Application in Plant Biotechnology

Nanotechnology is a most promising field for generating new applications in biotechnology. However, only few nanoproducts are currently in use for this purpose. A most prominent nanoproduct is nanosilver. Nanosilver particles are generally smaller than 100 nm and contain 20–15,000 silver atoms. At nanoscale, silver exhibits remarkably unusual physical, chemical and biological properties. As is the case with all nanomaterials, the principle characteristic of silver nanoparticles is their ultrasmall size. Ultrasmall particle size leads to ultralarge surface area per mass where a large proportion of atoms are in immediate contact with ambiance and readily available for reaction. Unique interactions with bacteria and viruses have been demonstrated of silver nanoparticles of certain size ranges and shapes [1]. Due to its strong antibacterial activity, use of nanosilver is becoming more and more widespread in medicine and related applications. In sharp contrast to the attention paid to new applications of nanosilver in medicine, few studies provide only scant insights into the application of nanosilver particles as a disinfectant and sterilizer for plant tissues in vitro and ex vitro in biotechnology researches. The two plants worked on in this research, say, Arabidopsis and tomato, are very important model plants in plant biotechnology researches. Therefore, the authors were encouraged to evaluate the efficiency of silver nanoparticles in sterilizing plant seeds and tissues mostly for in vitro culture purposes which finally aimed at plant genetic transformation. Based on our knowledge, this is the first report on the effects of nanosilver on plant seed germination and growth