The Effect of Nanoscale Hydroxyapatite in Infected Tomatoes

 By: Andrea Martinez

The figure shows the PAL overall activity (graphs A and B) and the phenolic content (graphs C and D) that is found in the tomato roots and shoots. This is the content found in both the healthy and the diseased groups that were used to find the data. Figure from Ma, et al., 2021. 

    

    This study was used to find the mechanisms in which large and small-sized nanoscale hydroxyapatite can suppress Fusarium-induced wilt disease in tomatoes. There were two separate groups that were used one had a low dose and another had a high dose which was distributed to tomatoes that were infected with this disease and the purpose was to see how the nanoscale hydroxyapatite would affect the shoot mass of the infected tomatoes. The exposure to both of the nanoscale hydroxyapatite sizes raised a significant amount of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activity within the infected tomatoes. It was also found that the phenolic content increased and it was seen to increase the shoots in Fusarium-infected tomatoes by 30-80% and around 40-68%.  The large-size treatments remodeled the cell membrane in the infected tomatoes as a way to try and protect the tomatoes from the infection. 

References: 

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.est.1c00901