Use of dendrimer nanotechnology for delivery of biomolecules into plant cells

1. A method of introducing a nucleic acid of interest into a plant cell having a cell wall to effect stable transformation, the method comprising:

providing the plant cell having a cell wall;

interacting a polyamidoamine dendrimer and one or more cell penetrating peptides (CPPs), with a nucleic acid of interest to form an activated dendrimer structure;

placing the plant cell having a cell wall and the activated dendrimer structure in contact with each other;

allowing uptake of the activated dendrimer structure into the plant cell having a cell wall so as to introduce the nucleic acid of interest into the plant cell having a cell wall; and

integrating the nucleic acid of interest into the genome of the plant cell having a cell wall so as to create a stable transformant.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein interacting a polyamidoamine dendrimer with a nucleic acid of interest comprises assembly of the nucleic acid of interest onto a surface of the polyamidoamine dendrimer.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein interacting a polyamidoamine dendrimer with a nucleic acid of interest comprises interacting negatively charged groups of the nucleic acid of interest with charged amino groups at a terminal end of the polyamidoamine dendrimer.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising allowing uptake of the activated dendrimer structure into a compartment of the plant cell having a cell wall.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the compartment is selected from the group consisting of cytosol, nucleus, tonoplasts, plastid, etioplast, chromoplast, leucoplast, elaioplast, proteinoplast, amyloplast, chloroplast, and a lumen of a double membrane.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plant cell having a cell wall is selected from the group consisting of tobacco, carrot, maize, canola, rapeseed, cotton, palm, peanut, soybean, Oryza sp., Arabidopsis sp., Ricinus sp., and sugarcane cells.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plant cell is from a tissue selected from the group consisting of embryos, meristematic cells, calli, pollen, leaves, anthers, roots, root tips, flowers, seeds, pods, and stems.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising derivatizing a surface of the polyamidoamine dendrimer.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the nucleic acid of interest comprises a component selected from the group consisting of nucleic acids, DNA, RNA, RNAi molecules, genes, plasmids, cosmids, YACs, BACs, and combinations thereof.

10. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the nucleic acid of interest comprises a gene.

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the gene is a foreign protein gene, an agronomic gene, or a marker gene.

12. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising selecting cells that have stably integrated the nucleic acid of interest.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the selected cells are regenerable cells.

14. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising regenerating a plant from the regenerable cells, wherein the regenerated plant or seeds therefrom comprise the nucleic acid of interest.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the polyamidoamine dendrimer comprises a dendrimer reagent.

16. A method of stably expressing a gene, the method comprising:

providing a plant cell having a cell wall;

interacting a polyamidoamine dendrimer and one or more CPPs, with a gene to form an activated dendrimer structure;

placing the plant cell having a cell wall and the activated dendrimer structure in contact with each other;

allowing uptake of the activated dendrimer structure into the plant cell having a cell wall, to obtain a stably transformed plant cell comprising the gene; and

expressing the gene in progeny of a plant having the plant cell.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the gene is expressed in a chloroplast.

18. The method according to claim 16 , further comprising selecting for cells stably expressing the gene prior to regenerating a plant from the stably transformed plant cell.

19. A method for transferring a plasmid DNA into a plant cell, comprising:

interacting a polyamidoamine dendrimer and one or more CPPs, with a plasmid DNA to form an activated dendrimer structure; and

contacting the activated dendrimer structure with an intact wall-bearing plant cell under conditions permitting uptake of the activated dendrimer structure into the plant cell.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising stably expressing the gene in progeny of a plant having the plant cell.