Use of Polymer Nanovector for Transient Expression of Foreign Protein in Plant Cell Cultures

초록

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method is simple, but can be applied only for dicotyledonous plants. Particle bombardment system can introduce foreign genes directly into plant cells, which has no limitation regarding plant species. However, the particle bombardment shows relatively low transformation efficiency and high cost. Therefore, development of highly efficient gene delivery vectors and transformation method is required for the improvement of plant genetic engineering. In this study, transient transfection was carried out by the application of polyethylenimine (PEI) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) nanovectors for inserting exogenous genes into plant cells. Cationic polymers can interact with anionic nucleic acids electrostatically to form polymer/DNA polyplexes. The polyplexes were prepared by mixing polymers with the expression plasmid, pMYN409-GFP. The formation of polyplexes was analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis retardation assay. To confirm whether PEI-based polyplexes can enter into the cultured plant cells, green fluorescent protein (GFP) was used and analyzed by confocal laser scanning microscope. In conclusion, it was found that PEI nanovector could be used for simple transformation of foreign genes into plant cells.