Gene Delivery to Tobacco Root Cells with Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Cell-Penetrating Fusogenic Peptides

Development of efficient, easy, and safe gene delivery methods is of great interest in the field of plant biotechnology. Considering the limitations of the usual transfection methods (such as transgene size and plant type), several new techniques have been tested for replacement. The success of some biological and synthetic nanostructures such as cell-penetrating peptides and carbon nanotubes in transferring macromolecules (proteins and nucleic acids) into mammalian cells provoked us to assess the ability of an engineered chimeric peptide and also arginine functionalized single-walled carbon nanotube in gene delivery to intact tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum var. Virginia) root cells. It was suggested that the engineered peptide with its special cationic and hydrophobic domains and the arginine functionalized single-walled carbon nanotube due to its nano-cylindrical shape can pass plant cell barriers while plasmid DNA (which codes green fluorescent protein) has been condensed on them. The success of gene delivery to tobacco root cells was confirmed by fluorescence microscopy and western blotting analysis.