Deciphering the molecular insight behind the inhibitory role of copper and silver nanocomposite on important bacterial and fungal pathogens in rice (oryza sativa)

Rice ( Oryza sativa ) being among the most important food crops in the world is also susceptible to various bacterial and fungal diseases that are the major stumbling blocks in the way of increased production and productivity. The bacterial leaf blight caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae and the sheath blight disease caused by Rhizoctonia solani are among the most devastating diseases of the rice crop. In spite of the availability of array of chemical control, there are chances of development of resistance. Thus, there is a need for the nanotechnological intervention for management of disease in the form of copper and silver nano-composites. The copper and silver nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized using different high throughput techniques, i.e., UV-Vis, FT-IR, DLS, XRD, FE-SEM, TEM. The characterization results confirmed the formation of copper and silver nanoparticles. The copper and silver nanoparticle composites evaluated against Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae and Rhizoctonia solani were found to have higher antibacterial and antifungal activities compared to only the copper nanoparticle. Net house trials of nano-composite formulations against the bacterial blight of rice also corroborated the potential of nanocomposite formulation. In silico studies were carried out selecting two disease-causing proteins, peptide deformylase ( Xanthomonas oryzae ) and pectate lyase ( Rhizoctonia solani ) to perform the molecular docking and interaction studies with silver and copper nanoparticles. These proteins could be the potential targets of the nanoparticles. The study suggested that the copper and silver nano-composites could be used for developing formulations to control these devastating rice diseases.