title: Trafficking and subcellular localization of multiwalled carbon nanotubes in plant cells.
abstract: Major barriers to delivery of biomolecules are crossing the cellular membranes and achieving a high cytoplasmic concentration by circumventing entrapment into endosomes and other lytic organelles. Motivated by such aim, we have investigated the capability of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) to penetrate the cell membrane of plant protoplasts (plant cells made devoid of their cell walls via enzymatic treatment) and studied their internalization mechanism via confocal imaging and TEM techniques. Our results indentified an endosome-escaping uptake mode of MWCNTs by plant protoplasts. Moreover, short MWCNTs (<100 nm) were observed to target specific cellular substructures including the nucleus, plastids, and vacuoles. These findings are expected to have a significant impact on plant cell biology and transformation technologies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Japan. magedserag@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Maged F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Serag
authors.forename: Noritada
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kaji
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gaillard
authors.forename: Yukihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Kazuyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Terasaka
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jabasini
authors.forename: Manabu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tokeshi
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mizukami
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bianco
authors.forename: Yoshinobu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Baba
mesh_terms: D001692:Biological Transport; D030008:Catharanthus / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D011992:Endosomes / Q000378:metabolism; D042541:Intracellular Space / Q000378:metabolism*; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D011523:Protoplasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon