title: Sweet delivery - sugar translocators as ports of entry for antisense oligodeoxynucleotides in plant cells.
abstract: Antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) are short (12-25 nt long) stretches of single-stranded DNA that may be delivered to a cell, where they hybridize to the cognate mRNA in a sequence-specific manner, thereby inhibiting gene expression. Here we used confocal microscopy to monitor the uptake and trafficking of ODNs in barley tissues. We conclude that uptake of ODNs across the plant plasma membrane is mediated by active transport of mono- or disaccharides through sugar translocators. We demonstrate that sugar transport can deliver ODNs to barley seeds, and that this strategy may be employed to suppress gene activity in endosperm cells by antisense ODN inhibition. We further found that sucrose compared favorably with oligofectamine as a vehicle for ODN delivery to human cells in a low-serum environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology & Forest Genetics, The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala BioCenter, PO Box 7080, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Chuanxin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ridderstråle
authors.forename: Anna-Stina
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Höglund
authors.forename: Lars-Gunnar
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.forename: Christer
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jansson
mesh_terms: D001692:Biological Transport / Q000187:drug effects; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005632:Fructose / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D006367:HeLa Cells; D001467:Hordeum / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000494:pharmacology; D008320:Maltose / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D020319:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides, Antisense / Q000378:metabolism*; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D012639:Seeds / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D013395:Sucrose / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids; D020319:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides, Antisense; D009844:Oligosaccharides; C484027:oligofectamine; D005632:Fructose; D013395:Sucrose; D008320:Maltose; D005947:Glucose