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The regulation of plant growth and developmental processes by carbon dots (CDs) has been frequently reported. However, little is known about how CDs are related to the yield and nutritional quality...

The eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) is rich in vitamin P (also known as rutin), which is beneficial for humans. In this study, the vitamin P contents of 53 eggplant lines were measured via UV spectrophotometry. The results showed that the vitamin P content differed significantly among the eggplant lines and the actual contents of vitamin P in fresh fruit pulp and fresh peel were 0.18–0.82 mg · g−1 and 0.42–2.32 mg · g−1, respectively. Furthermore, the mixed major gene and polygene inheritance model method was used for the inheritance analysis of the vitamin P content in F2 populations of three hybridization combinations. Inheritance analysis demonstrated that the vitamin P content of these eggplant lines was a quantitative trait. One or two major genes were the contributor, and the genetic effect was an additive-dominance effect. The high vitamin P content trait was regulated by the main gene and followed an additive effect. The heritability of the major genes controlling the high vitamin P content was low, while the heritability of the major gene that controls the low vitamin P content trait was high. These results provide a theoretical basis for the breeding of eggplants with high vitamin P content.

In this paper, the fracture surfaces of a light-conversion film were observed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and then, the fluorescence spectra and mechanical properties of the film were tested. The SEM results show that the average diameter of the light conversion agent is 500 nm. The results of the mechanical properties tests show that the tensile strengths of light-conversion film increase from 9.86 to 12.16 MPa and that the strain at breakage increases from 2.37% to 2.75%. In addition, the application effects of the light-conversion film were studied. The results indicate that plant height, length of the maximum leaf, width of the maximum leaf and breadth of the plants increase by 24.43%, 15.30%, 15.60% and 19.07%, respectively. The quality of Chinese flowering cabbages treated with the light-conversion film is superior, including a 9.09% increase in the soluble protein content, a 21.27% increase in the polyphenol content, and a 19.15% increase in the soluble sugar content. Based on these results, light-conversion films can be applied in agricultural production.

An “off−on” assay system for H2O2 determination was developed based on assembling ultra-bright fluorescent silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) and PEG-MnO2 nanosheets. Among them, SiQDs acted as fluorometric reporter, which can effectively eliminate the interference of plant pigments under excitation of 365 nm. PEG-MnO2 nanosheets played dual function of nanoquencher and H2O2 recognizer. Unlike previous reports, the quenching mechanism of SiQDs by PEG-MnO2 nanosheets is attributed to both the associative effect of inner filter effect and the static quenching effect. Thus, the fluorescence intensity of SiQDs at 445 nm decreased with increasing concentration of PEG-MnO2 nanosheets. After addition of H2O2, PEG-MnO2 nanosheets were reduced to Mn2+, consequently resulting in the recovery of the SiQDs fluorescence. Combined with these properties, an off-on fluorescent method was built for determination of H2O2 in plant leaves with high sensitivity and selectivity. The present method has two linear ranges: from 0.05 to 1 μM with a detection limit of 0.09 μM and from 1 to 80 μM with a detection limit of 4.04 μM.

In this study, a biomimetic synthetic strategy was proposed for a facile preparation of red fluorescent silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) using unicellular algae of diatoms as reaction precursor. The resultant nontoxic SiQDs of ∼2.0 nm diameter display remarkable red luminescence, high quantum yield (∼15%) and narrow full width at half maximum (FWHM, ∼35 nm). Specifically, as-prepared SiQDs show promise as regulators of plant growth. After cultivating cucumber seedlings with SiQDs, the growth of cucumber seedlings has been significant promoted within a wide range of SiQDs concentrations (0.01–0.3 mg mL−1). The total weight of cucumber seedlings significantly increased by 51.91% (P < 0.001) compared with weight of the control group after incubation for 10 days. Moreover, it was discovered that the growth of cucumber seedlings is positively correlated with the water uptake rate of roots. After a 5 day incubation, the optimum concentration of SiQDs significantly increased water uptake rate of roots by 74.6% compared with that of the control group. Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis revealed that the expression of aquaporin gene in cucumber roots treated with SiQDs increased significantly compared to that of the control group. This is the first report regarding a phytophysiology effect of red fluorescent SiQDs on cucumber seedlings growth. The results widen the range of applications of SiQDs in plant science.

Carbon dots (CDs) profiting from their stable photoluminescence, small size and good biocompatibility have been used in higher organic fields. The relationship between CDs and edible fungi was less reported. Herein, blue emission CDs are prepared by one-step hydrothermal synthesis, and applied on oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) for studying the relationship between CDs and mushroom. Laser scanning confocal imaging shows that the CDs could enter into mushroom hypha. The CDs also can transport among the sporophore. The CDs could be nutrition for oyster mushroom hypha growth in PDA-free medium, and the enhancement effect of CDs on edible fungi hypha is dose-response. Using high concentration on sporophore, their growth would not be affected. It shows that the sporophore of oyster mushroom has well toxicity tolerance for CDs. This study illustrates the relationship of uptake, translocation and toxicity of CDs on edible fungi, which lays the foundation for CDs further application on edible fungi system.

An "off-on" assay system for H

A silicon oxide quantum dots (Si-O QDs) and Ag nanoclusters hybrid nanosensing probe with dual-emission and small nanocrystals that acts as an “off-on” ratio fluorescent probe for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) detection was developed. The probe was used to measure the H2O2 concentration generated by mitochondria in vitro via recording the I455/I680 fluorescence ratio. Furthermore, this hybrid probe was applied to monitor the wound-induced H2O2 in lettuce leaf, and realized the visualized fluorescence qualitative detection H2O2 in vivo via laser scanning confocal microscope. The working mechanism of the probe is also investigated. Inner filter effect (IFE) estimation, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images were applied to study the quenching mechanism and recovering reason of Si-O QDs fluorescence. The results show that the blue fluorescence of Si-O QDs can be quenched by Ag NCs via the IFE and fluorescent resonance energy transfer (FRET) effect. After adding H2O2, the surface groups of Ag NCs was changed and the IFE and FRET effects between the Si-O QDs and Ag NCs are disabled, thus the quenched Si-O QDs luminescence can be regularly recovered.