Nanotechnology as a powerful tool in plant sciences: Recent developments, challenges and perspectives

In today's global climate emergency, agricultural practices are becoming increasingly unsustainable. There are a number of alarming issues that require immediate action, including soil erosion, excessive use of natural resources, biodiversity loss, and an explosion of population. Although agriculture is heavily modernized, with traditional approaches, it is not possible to meet these challenges due to different landscapes, high nutrition demand, and a lack of technology. Aside from adversely affecting agriculture, chemical use has also resulted in serious health issues and undesirable effects on the ecosystem. As a result, nanotechnology will play a significant role in delivering a well-organized, sustainable agricultural industry by reducing chemicals and addressing existing problems. A quick disease diagnosis, improved plant nutrient absorption, and increased plant capability to absorb nutrients can be achieved by nanotechnology in the food and agriculture industries. Agricultural plants can be protected from insects and pests by nanotechnology acting as sensors to monitor soil and water quality. Despite their potential, researchers have been unable to understand how these compounds operate, since NPs either enhance growth or cause cytotoxicity depending on how much concentration is applied. In this article, we present the most promising nanoparticles used in abiotic stress management and gene editing of plants, as well as novel nanobionic approaches for improving plant functions and organelles

Direct identification by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) from positive blood culture bottles: An opportunity to customize growth conditions for fastidious organisms causing bloodstream infections

Culture-negative bacteraemia has been an enigmatic entity with respect to its aetiological agents. In an attempt to actively identify those positive blood cultures that escape isolation and detection on routine workflow, an additional step of MALDI-TOF MS (matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry) based detection was carried out directly from the flagged blood culture bottles. Blood samples from 200 blood culture bottles that beeped positive with automated (BACTEC) system and showed no growth of organism on routine culture media, were subjected to analysis by MALDI-TOF MS. Forty seven of the 200 (23.5%) bacterial aetiology could be established by bottle-based method. Based on these results, growth on culture medium could be achieved for the isolates by providing special growth conditions to the fastidious organisms. Direct identification by MALDI-TOF MS from BACTEC-positive bottles provided an opportunity to isolate those fastidious organisms that failed to grow on routine culture medium by providing them with necessary alterations in growth environment