Nucleic acid delivery to plants. Towards improved protection and development of crops.

Plant genetic engineering is an important tool used in current efforts in crop improvement, pharmaceutical product biosynthesis and sustainable agriculture. Exogenous biomolecule delivery into plants is difficult because the plant cell wall poses a dominant transport barrier, thereby limiting the efficiency of plant genetic engineering. Traditional DNA delivery methods for plants suffer from host-species limitations, low transformation efficiencies, tissue damage, or unavoidable and uncontrolled DNA integration into the host genome.

We have recently developed an innovative screening technology, that allow us to identify transfection agents in a timely and efficient way. This methodology allow us to screen for transfection efficiency and toxicity without having to purify any of the candidate transfection agents, simplifying this way the discovery process. In this multidisciplinary project, we will identify novel transfection agents capable of delivering plasmid DNA to cells that are classically thought of as difficult or impossible to transfect (such as macrophages or neuronal cells).

This project is a collaboration between Dr Francisco Fernandez-Trillo, Estrella Luna-Diez and Sara Jabbari, combining polymer synthesis and characterisation, plant cell biology and computational science.

For further details about the project, please contact Dr Fernandez-Trillo ([Email Address Removed]).