The Promising Nanovectors for Gene Delivery in Plant Genome Engineering

Abstract

Highly efficient gene delivery systems are essential for genetic engineering in plants. Traditional delivery methods have been widely used, such as Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, polyethylene glycol (PEG)-mediated delivery, biolistic particle bombardment, and viral transfection. However, genotype dependence and other drawbacks of these techniques limit the application of genetic engineering, particularly genome editing in many crop plants. There is a great need to develop newer gene delivery vectors or methods. Recently, nanomaterials such as mesoporous silica particles (MSNs), AuNPs, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and layer double hydroxides (LDHs), have emerged as promising vectors for the delivery of genome engineering tools (DNA, RNA, proteins, and RNPs) to plants in a species-independent manner with high efficiency. Some exciting results have been reported, such as the successful delivery of cargo genes into plants and the generation of genome stable transgenic cotton and maize plants, which have provided some new routines for genome engineering in plants. Thus, in this review, we summarized recent progress in the utilization of nanomaterials for plant genetic transformation and discussed the advantages and limitations of different methods. Furthermore, we emphasized the advantages and potential broad applications of nanomaterials in plant genome editing, which provides guidance for future applications of nanomaterials in plant genetic engineering and crop breeding.

Plant Virus-Derived Vectors for Plant Genome Engineering

“…There are multiple types of nanomaterials used for delivery systems, such as carbon nanotubes, carbon dots, graphene, graphene oxide, magnetic nanoparticles, liposome-like nanoparticles, etc. These delivery systems have been reviewed previously [ 65 , 66 , 67 ] with additional advancements, such as cationic based delivery of CRIPSR reagents for stable genome editing in plants [ 68 ]. The nanoparticle-based delivery systems have multiple advantages over other delivery methods, such as having low toxicity, choice for delivery of all biomolecules, and no dependency on plant species.…”

Organelle-targeted gene delivery in plants by nanomaterials

“…Since several excellent reviews have summarized the current status of DNA delivery methods for nuclear genome engineering, we describe only an overview of the traditional methods and NMs applicable for DNA delivery to the plant nucleus. 18,[87][88][89][90] Agrobacterium-mediated DNA transfer is the dominant method for nuclear transformation of plants. 6,8 This method is based on the ability of a soil bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, to transfer T-DNA, a small region of its tumorinducing plasmids, into the nuclear genome of host plants.…”

“…Since several excellent reviews have summarized the current status of DNA delivery methods for nuclear genome engineering, we describe only an overview of the traditional methods and NMs applicable for DNA delivery to the plant nucleus. 18,87–90…”

Cell Wall‐Denaturing Molecules for Plant Gene Modification

“…[2] Since nanocarriers possess unique physical and chemical properties due to their small sizes, they enable exogenous plasmid DNA (pDNA) or doublestranded RNA (dsRNA) to be directly delivered into intact plant cells, species-independently, without specialized equipment. [3] For example, nanocarriers including carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and peptide-based nanocomplexes successfully delivered pDNA to specific organelles (i. e., mitochondria and chloroplasts) in intact plants, while conventional delivery methods cannot target such specific organelles. [4] The cell wall permeability of nanocarriers depends on the plant species, the nano/microstructure of plant tissues, and the properties of nanocarriers, such as shape, size, surface charge (zeta potential), and amphiphilicity.…”