Researchers at Iowa State University have now demonstrated theability to deliver proteins and DNA into plant cells,simultaneously. This is important because it now opens upopportunities for more sophisticated and targeted plant genomeediting-techniques that require the precise delivery of bothprotein and DNA to bring about specific gene modifications in cropplants. Such modifications are becoming more and more important inthe face of our changing climates as new insect pests, plantdiseases and soil stresses emerge where previously there were few. While DNA delivery into cells has become routine, deliveringproteins and enzymes to both animal and plant cells has proved morechallenging. The Iowa State team's protein delivery advancement isan important achievement toward this end. A research paper describing the advancement has been publishedonline by the journal Advanced Functional Materials . The work was partially sponsored by Pioneer Hi-Bred withlong-term support from Iowa State University's Plant SciencesInstitute. The Iowa State research team includes Kan Wang, professor ofagronomy; Brian Trewyn, associate scientist in chemistry; SusanaMartin-Ortigosa, a post-doctoral research associate in agronomy;and Justin Valenstein, a chemistry doctoral student. Nanoparticles are tiny materials that are the size equivalent ofseveral molecules sitting side-by-side or the size of a big virus.A single nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. The virus thatcauses AIDS is roughly 100 nanometers in diameter. Using new and improved custom-built honeycomb-like mesoporoussilica nanoparticles that the Iowa State team designed five yearsago, the researchers have demonstrated co-delivery of functionalprotein and DNA into plant cells. The first generation of these customized particles were relativelysmall (100 nanometers) and so the available packing spaces wereunable to accommodate larger functional molecules such as proteinsor enzymes. This next generation is five times the size (500nanometers) and looks something like an ultra-fine piece ofHoneycomb cereal. The key to the researchers' success is a newly devised method formaking larger uniform pouches in the custom nanoparticles. Anadditional modification-gold plating the entire silica particleprior to packing-improved DNA and protein binding for a more securepayload. To test the new particle's effectiveness, Wang and her colleaguesloaded the pores with a green florescent protein derived from jellyfish, which serves as a photo marker inside the plant cell. Next,these particles were coated with DNA encoding a red protein fromcoral. The complex was then shot into plant cells using a gene gun,a traditional gene delivery method that gets foreign material pastthe plant's protective cell wall. The gold plating innovation added some greatly needed ballisticheft to the particles, ensuring their ability to cannonball throughthe plant cell wall once released from the gene gun. Cells that fluoresce both red and green at the same time confirmsuccessful delivery. The team has demonstrated success in onion,tobacco and maize cells. The work is a tangible realization of efforts the team had in thedesign stage just two years ago when colleague Victor Lin of IowaState University and the U.S. Department of Energy's AmesLaboratory unexpectedly died. "He was such a brilliantscientist," says Wang. "We all felt completely lost whenwe lost him." But the team pulled together, capitalizing on the excellenttraining all had received from working with Lin to make this nextgeneration particle a reality. "We would have been unable to work out anything without eachother," says Wang. "This success proves his legacycontinues.". I am an expert from industrialpanel-pc.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Industrial LCD Displays , Rugged Notebook Computers, Industrial LCD Displays,and more.
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