2024 AIChE Annual Meeting
Cationic Carbon Nanodots for the Delivery of Nucleic Acids
The changes in climate due to the substantial increase of anthropogenic carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses have attracted widespread public attention in recent years due to their impact on global surface and atmospheric temperatures. Consequently, these changes are causing environmental stresses to occur far more often and severely; which is predicted to decrease crop yields by 25% by 2050. It is clear that novel solutions are needed to improve crop yields by making them more resilient to changing climate conditions. In working towards a solution to these issues, CRISPR/Cas9 genetic engineering has immense potential to introduce genes that allow for greater crop productivity and the improvement of their resistances to both biotic and abiotic stressors. However, for this, tools to effectively deliver nucleic acids into plant cells need to be developed. To tackle this problem, we are exploring nanomaterials, specifically carbon dots (CDs), for their simple synthesis, high water solubility, biocompatibility, low toxicity, nano size, and fluorescent properties, which make them highly suitable candidates for cargo delivery for gene editing applications. Herein, we have successfully functionalized CDs with polyethyleneimine (PEI), a cationic polymer, and loaded DNA on them via electrostatic attraction. Ongoing work is optimizing this platform to deliver genes into plant leaf cells for gene editing. Our results lay a basic foundation for future work in creating universal plant gene delivery systems.