Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 Jun 23;17(7):996.
doi: 10.3390/ijms17070996.

Chitosan Effects on Plant Systems

Massimo Malerba  1 , Raffaella Cerana  2
Affiliations
Review

Chitosan Effects on Plant Systems

Massimo Malerba et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Chitosan (CHT) is a natural, safe, and cheap product of chitin deacetylation, widely used by several industries because of its interesting features. The availability of industrial quantities of CHT in the late 1980s enabled it to be tested in agriculture. CHT has been proven to stimulate plant growth, to protect the safety of edible products, and to induce abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in various horticultural commodities. The stimulating effect of different enzyme activities to detoxify reactive oxygen species suggests the involvement of hydrogen peroxide and nitric oxide in CHT signaling. CHT could also interact with chromatin and directly affect gene expression. Recent innovative uses of CHT include synthesis of CHT nanoparticles as a valuable delivery system for fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and micronutrients for crop growth promotion by a balanced and sustained nutrition. In addition, CHT nanoparticles can safely deliver genetic material for plant transformation. This review presents an overview on the status of the use of CHT in plant systems. Attention was given to the research that suggested the use of CHT for sustainable crop productivity.

Keywords: chitosan; defense responses; fertilizers; herbicides; micronutrients; nanoparticles; pesticides.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Kurita K. Chitin and chitosan: Functional biopolymers from marine crustaceans. Mar. Biotech. (N.Y.) 2006;8:203–226. doi: 10.1007/s10126-005-0097-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Park B.K., Kim M.M. Applications of chitin and its derivatives in biological medicine. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2010;11:5152–5164. doi: 10.3390/ijms11125152. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hamed I., Ozogul F., Regenstein J.M. Industrial applications of crustacean by-products (chitin, chitosan, and chitooligosaccharides): A review. Trends Food Sci. Technol. 2016;48:40–50. doi: 10.1016/j.tifs.2015.11.007. - DOI
    1. Choi C., Nam J.P., Nah J.W. Application of chitosan and chitosan derivatives as biomaterials. J. Ind. Eng. Chem. 2016;33:1–10. doi: 10.1016/j.jiec.2015.10.028. - DOI
    1. Hamel L.-P., Beaudoin N. Chitooligosaccharide sensing and downstream signaling: Contrasted outcomes in pathogenic and beneficial plant-microbe interactions. Planta. 2010;232:787–806. doi: 10.1007/s00425-010-1215-9. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms