Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA.
National Synchrotron Light Source II, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA.
Nanoscale. 2020 Feb 14;12(6):3630-3636. doi: 10.1039/c9nr08100c. Epub 2020 Jan 30.
Plant nanobiotechnology has the potential to revolutionize agriculture. However, the lack of effective methods to deliver nanoparticles (NPs) to the precise locations in plants where they are needed impedes these technological innovations. Here, model gold nanoparticles (AuNP) were coated with citrate, bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a protein control, or LM6-M, an antibody with an affinity for functional groups unique to stomata on leaf surfaces to deliver the AuNPs to stomata. One-month-old Vicia faba leaves were exposed via drop deposition to aqueous suspensions of LM6-M-coated AuNPs and allowed to air dry. After rinsing, Au distribution on the leaf surface was investigated by enhanced dark-field microscopy and X-ray fluorescence mapping. While citrate-coated AuNPs randomly covered the plant leaves, LM6M-AuNPs strongly adhered to the stomata and remained on the leaf surface after rinsing, and BSA-AuNPs specifically targeted trichome hairs. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of active targeting of live leaf structures using NPs coated with molecular recognition molecules. This proof-of-concept study provides a strategy for future targeted nanopesticide delivery research.
植物纳米生物技术有可能彻底改变农业。然而，缺乏将纳米颗粒 (NPs) 有效递送到植物中需要它们的精确位置的方法，阻碍了这些技术创新。在这里，模型金纳米颗粒 (AuNP) 被柠檬酸、牛血清白蛋白 (BSA)（作为蛋白质对照）或 LM6-M 包覆，LM6-M 是一种针对叶片表面特有的气孔功能基团的抗体，用于将 AuNP 递送到气孔。通过滴注沉积将 1 个月大的蚕豆叶片暴露于 LM6-M 包覆的 AuNP 水性悬浮液中，并允许空气干燥。冲洗后，通过增强暗场显微镜和 X 射线荧光映射研究 Au 在叶片表面的分布。虽然柠檬酸包覆的 AuNP 随机覆盖植物叶片，但 LM6M-AuNP 强烈粘附在气孔上，冲洗后仍留在叶片表面，BSA-AuNP 则特异性靶向毛状体。据作者所知，这是首次使用带有分子识别分子的 NPs 对活体叶片结构进行主动靶向的报道。这项概念验证研究为未来的靶向纳米农药递送研究提供了一种策略。
