A Nanobionic Light-Emitting Plant

Abstract

The engineering of living plants for visible light emission and sustainable illumination is compelling because plants possess independent energy generation and storage mechanisms and autonomous self-repair. Herein, we demonstrate a plant nanobionic approach that enables exceptional luminosity and lifetime utilizing four chemically interacting nanoparticles, including firefly luciferase conjugated silica (SNP-Luc), D-luciferin releasing poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA-LH 2 ), coenzyme A functionalized chitosan (CS-CoA) and semiconductor nanocrystal phosphors for longer wavelength modulation. An in vitro kinetic model incorporating the release rates of the nanoparticles is developed to maximize the chemiluminescent lifetimes to exceed 21.5 h. In watercress (Nasturtium off icinale) and other species, the nanoparticles circumvent limitations such as luciferin toxicity above 400 μM and colocalization of enzymatic reactions near high adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production. Pressurized bath infusion of nanoparticles (PBIN) is introduced to deliver a mixture of nanoparticles to the entire living plant, well described using a nanofluidic mathematical model. We rationally design nanoparticle size and charge to control localization within distinct tissues compartments with 10 nm nanoparticles localizing within the leaf mesophyll and stomata guard cells, and those larger than 100 nm segregated in the leaf mesophyll. The results are mature watercress plants that emit greater than 1.44 × 10 12 photons/sec or 50% of 1 μW commercial luminescent diodes and modulate "off" and "on" states by chemical addition of dehydroluciferin and coenzyme A, respectively. We show that CdSe nanocrystals can shift the chemiluminescent emission to 760 nm enabling nearinfrared (nIR) signaling. These results advance the viability of nanobionic plants as self-powered photonics, direct and indirect light sources.

Rational Design Principles for the Transport and Subcellular Distribution of Nanomaterials into Plant Protoplasts

“…Preparation of SNP‐AF488 : SNP‐AF488 was prepared as previously described . Briefly, (3‐glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (GPTS) was added to a mixture of 75% ethanol/water and incubated at room temperature for 1 h for complete hydrolysis.…”

“…Besides nucleic acids, nanoparticles can also be functionalized with molecules such as fluorescent dyes for intracellular labeling in plants, active molecules for tracking and sensing purposes, and agrochemicals for crop health . Targeted delivery of nanoparticles to certain regions of plant tissue is also important for the creation of biomimetic systems such as light‐harvesting apparatuses, photonic devices, emission sources for near‐infrared communication to electronic devices, and carbon‐negative temperature and environmental sensors . We have previously shown that highly charged nanoceria, a nanoparticle‐based reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger, and certain polymer‐wrapped single‐wrapped carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) localized within the chloroplasts when introduced to plant mesophyll tissue, enabling photosynthetic rate augmentation and extending the photoactive lifetime of extracted chloroplasts .…”

“…We have previously shown that highly charged nanoceria, a nanoparticle‐based reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger, and certain polymer‐wrapped single‐wrapped carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) localized within the chloroplasts when introduced to plant mesophyll tissue, enabling photosynthetic rate augmentation and extending the photoactive lifetime of extracted chloroplasts . In recent work, we have demonstrated that the physical properties of nanoparticles can be tuned to control their localization in leaf mesophyll tissue to enable non‐native functionalities such as light emission . The ability to understand and control the transport of nanoparticles within living plant cells is therefore of practical and significant importance for various plant bioengineering applications, extending beyond plant genome engineering .…”

Nanobiohybrids: Materials approaches for bioaugmentation

“…The rapid explosion of materials research and nanotechnology in the past few decades has recently allowed us to explore alternative strategies for enhancing existing, or enabling completely new, functions within biological systems. With careful material design and construction, many synthetic materials have been successfully coupled with biological systems, demonstrating new extrinsic functional properties that surpass many existing natural capabilities of biosystems, such as the adaptation to fatal environments (9)(10)(11), the ability to prolong life cycles (12), and photosynthesis in nonphotosynthetic species (13). Biological species have gone through millions of years of evolution to achieve many of their biofunctionalities; however, given the amazing compositional and structural diversity of advanced synthetic materials, it is expected that strategies for the integration of functional synthetic materials with biological systems for the design and engineering of nanobiohybrids are a more rapid, powerful, and costeffective alternative than natural evolution or genetic engineering.…”

The Emergence of Plant Nanobionics and Living Plants as Technology

“…The use of nanoparticles also allowed for the reduction of the effective concentration of luciferin molecule inside plants below its critical toxic level of 300 × 10 −6 m . Demonstration of this plant nanobionic approach with a watercress ( Nasturtium officinale ) plant led to a record plant brightness of 1.44 × 10 12 photons per second or 50% of 1 µW commercial luminescent diode . The concept of light‐emitting plants as self‐powered, persistent photonic sources for illumination of a book was also demonstrated (Figure b).…”