A research team led by Han Heyou, a professor at Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU), recently published a research paper titled "Manganese-based nanozyme enabled efficient mitigation of Huanglongbing-induced oxidative damage in Citrus" in the journal Environmental Science: Nano. This study constructed a manganese oxide nanoparticle enzyme (MONPs) to achieve the clearance and regulation of oxidative metabolism in citrus tissues infected with Huanglongbing, thereby protecting leaf tissues against oxidative stress.
The mechanism of MONPs protection of citruses infected with Huanglongbing [Photo/news.hzau.edu.cn]
The paper investigated whether MONPs have the ability to scavenge reactive oxygen species under physiological conditions and evaluated the antioxidant activity of MONPs by simulating various reactive oxygen environments in vitro. The results indicated that MONPs possess multiple enzyme-like activities and a broad-spectrum direct scavenging function for reactive oxygen species.
According to the study, the antioxidant mechanism of MONPs in citrus plants demonstrated significant upregulation of oxidative defense-related gene expression and enzyme activity in diseased citrus treated with MONPs, thereby alleviating stress caused by Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) infection through an indirect antioxidant pathway.
In conclusion, this strategy based on manganese-based nanozymes (MONPs) is multifunctional, highly stable, and easily mass-produced. By applying methods such as leaf spraying and injection, MONPs can effectively become internalized into diseased citrus, alleviate oxidative damage, protect plant tissues and mitigate Huanglongbing symptoms. It has the potential to expand the application of nanomaterials in the prevention and control of Huanglongbing in citrus, serving the development of the citrus industry.
The first authors of this paper are doctoral student Li Shuojun from the College of Life Science & Technology (currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences) and master's student Long Yuying from the College of Chemistry. Han Heyou from HZAU is the corresponding author. This research was supported by the National Key R&D Program Project (2021YFD1400803).