Zwitterionic Polypeptides: Chemoenzymatic Synthesis and Loosening Function for Cellulose Crystals

Relaxation of the Plant Cell Wall Barrier via Zwitterionic Liquid Pretreatment for Micelle-Complex-Mediated DNA Delivery to Specific Plant Organelles

Targeted delivery of genes to specific plant organelles is a key challenge for fundamental plant science, plant bioengineering, and agronomic applications. Nanoscale carriers have attracted interest as a promising tool for organelle‐targeted DNA delivery in plants. However, nanocarrier‐mediated DNA delivery in plants is severely hampered by the barrier of the plant cell wall, resulting in insufficient delivery efficiency. Herein, we propose a unique strategy that synergistically combines a cell wall‐loosening zwitterionic liquid (ZIL) with a peptide‐displaying micelle complex for organelle‐specific DNA delivery in plants. We demonstrated that ZIL pretreatment can enhance cell wall permeability without cytotoxicity, allowing micelle complexes to translocate across the cell wall and carry DNA cargo into specific plant organelles, such as nuclei and chloroplasts, with significantly augmented efficiency. Our work offers a novel concept to overcome the plant cell wall barrier for nanocarrier‐mediated cargo delivery to specific organelles in living plants.

Prospects of Using Biocatalysis for the Synthesis and Modification of Polymers

Trends in the dynamically developing application of biocatalysis for the synthesis and modification of polymers over the past 5 years are considered, with an emphasis on the production of biodegradable, biocompatible and functional polymeric materials oriented to medical applications. The possibilities of using enzymes not only as catalysts for polymerization but also for the preparation of monomers for polymerization or oligomers for block copolymerization are considered. Special attention is paid to the prospects and existing limitations of biocatalytic production of new synthetic biopolymers based on natural compounds and monomers from biomass, which can lead to a huge variety of functional biomaterials. The existing experience and perspectives for the integration of bio- and chemocatalysis in this area are discussed.

Endosome-escaping micelle complexes dually equipped with cell-penetrating and endosome-disrupting peptides for efficient DNA delivery into intact plants

The delivery of DNA to plants is crucial for enhancing their ability to produce valuable compounds and adapt to climate change. Peptides can provide a versatile tool for delivering DNA to a specific target organelle in various plant species without the use of specialized equipment. However, peptide-mediated DNA delivery suffers from endosomal entrapment and subsequent vacuolar degradation of the DNA cargo, which leads to poor transfection efficiency. To overcome the lack of a reliable approach for bypassing vacuolar degradation in plants, we herein present an endosome-escaping micelle. The micelle surface is dually modified with cell-penetrating (CPP) and endosome-disrupting peptides (EDP) and the core is composed of plasmid DNA condensed with cationic peptides. Due to the functions of CPP and EDP, the dual peptide-modified micelles efficiently undergo endocytic internalization and escape from endosomes to the cytosol, thereby achieving significantly enhanced transfection of intact plants with negligible cytotoxicity. The present study offers a robust strategy for efficient intracellular DNA delivery to plants without vacuolar degradation, and can facilitate plant bioengineering for diverse biotechnological applications.

Dual Peptide-Based Gene Delivery System for the Efficient Transfection of Plant Callus Cells

Owing to their diverse functions and tunable physicochemical properties, peptides are promising alternatives to the conventional gene delivery tools that are available for plant systems. However, peptide-mediated gene delivery is limited by low transfection efficiency in plants because of the insufficient cytosolic translocation of DNA cargo. Here, we report a dual peptide-based gene delivery system for the efficient transfection of plant callus cells. This system is based on the combination of an artificial peptide composed of cationic cell-penetrating and hydrophobic endosomal escape domains with a gene carrier peptide composed of amphiphilic cell-penetrating and cationic DNA-binding domains. Cellular internalization and transfection studies revealed that this dual peptide-based system enables more efficient transfection of callus cells than does a carrier peptide alone by enhancing the endocytic uptake and subsequent cytosolic translocation of a carrier peptide/DNA complex. The present strategy will expand the utility of peptide-mediated plant gene delivery for a wide range of applications and basic research.