Nanotechnology Meets Plant Biotech- Nology: Carbon Nanotubes Deliver Dna and Incorporate into the Plant Cell Structure

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) can intracellulary traffic through different cellular barriers and deliver biomolecules into living cells. However, their use in plants is limited by the cellulosic wall surrounding the plant cell. Here we show that CNT with immobilized cellulase can serve as an efficient DNA delivery system for plant cells. Tracking the cellular fate of nanotubes revealed two novel phenomena: (1)A possible nuclear localization and (2)When the transfected cell decides to differentiate into tracheary cell (water conducting cell), nanotubes were observed to incorporate into cellular structure. Our work aims at methodological development that paves the way toward on-chip-nanoscale-gene delivery applications.