Increasing
CO2 levels are speculated to change the effects
of engineered nanomaterials in soil and on plant growth. How plants
will respond to a combination of elevated CO2 and nanomaterials
stress has rarely been investigated, and the underlying mechanism
remains largely unknown. Here, we conducted a field experiment to
investigate the rice (Oryza sativa L.
cv. IIyou) response to TiO2 nanoparticles (nano-TiO2, 0 and 200 mg kg–1) using a free-air CO2 enrichment system with different CO2 levels (ambient
∼370 μmol mol–1 and elevated ∼570
μmol mol–1). The results showed that elevated
CO2 or nano-TiO2 alone did not significantly
affect rice chlorophyll content and antioxidant enzyme activities.
However, in the presence of nano-TiO2, elevated CO2 significantly enhanced the rice height, shoot biomass, and
panicle biomass (by 9.4%, 12.8%, and 15.8%, respectively). Furthermore,
the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis
revealed that genes involved in photosynthesis were up-regulated while
most genes associated with secondary metabolite biosynthesis were
down-regulated in combination-treated rice. This indicated that elevated
CO2 and nano-TiO2 might stimulate rice growth
by adjusting resource allocation between photosynthesis and metabolism.
This study provides novel insights into rice responses to increasing
contamination under climate change.