Plant organelle targeting cell penetrating peptides

Abstract

To address the limitations of conventional nuclear transformation I have developed a peptide based gene delivery system to genetically manipulate the genomes of plant cell mitochondria and plastids. Plant organelle targeting cell penetrating peptides (POTCPPs) are peptides that form nanoparticles composed of short peptides and double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). The peptides have cell penetrating properties and specific organelle targeting properties. These properties enabled the peptides to translocate their cargo across the cell wall and outer plasma membrane of tissue cultured plant cells to deliver dsDNA to the mitochondria or the chloroplast and have it expressed in organello. The POTCPP transfection method represents the first report of a successful in vivo plant cell mitochondrial transfection and a peptide based plastid transfection within a monocot species. The POTCPP transfection method can be applied to organelle gene targeting, functional genomic and to the study of transient gene expression in tissue cultured plant cells.