Nanoenabled Priming Helps Wheat to Handle Heat and Disease

Global wheat production faces growing threats from rising temperature and pathogen attacks under climate change. Here, we developed a nanoenabled seed priming strategy that simultaneously enhanced wheat thermotolerance and resistance to Fusarium head blight (FHB). Specifically, under heat shock stress (45 °C, 24 h), wheat seedlings that underwent AgSiO 2 NP (40 mg/L AgNPs + 40 mg/L SiO 2 NPs) seed priming exhibited reduced wilting symptoms, increased biomass (22.8%), improved water uptake, maintained cellular membrane integrity, and delayed protein/starch catabolism compared to the hydroprimed control. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) localization assays and RNA-seq analysis reveal that AgSiO 2 NP priming triggered ROS-mediated activation of “plant hormone signal transduction” and the “MAPK signaling pathway” in seeds. These molecular changes persisted into the seedling stage, establishing a primed state that enhanced seedlings’ heat resilience. AgSiO 2 NP-primed seedlings also showed enhanced resistance to Fusarium graminearum, even under hotter conditions (28 °C). Comparative transcriptomics of wheat seedlings pre- and postpathogen infection revealed that AgSiO 2 NP priming intensified defense-related pathways, including the MAPK signaling pathway, plant hormone signal transduction pathway, plant–pathogen interaction pathway, and specialized metabolite biosynthesis pathways, as compared to hydropriming, leading to robust immune activation and disease resistance during pathogen attack. We also demonstrate that an inexpensive ($0.5–2 per acre) and environmentally friendly alternative, CuO@SiO 2 nanoparticles, efficiently enhances the resistance of wheat seedlings to FHB. This study proposes a nontransgenic approach for engineering climate-resilient wheat, providing a sustainable strategy to address food insecurity exacerbated by climate change.