A synthetic peptide that induces a novel cellular uptake mechanism in plants

January 6, 2022

A new chemical tool enabling direct delivery of bioactive proteins to plants

A research group from RIKEN CSRS has discovered that a synthetic cell-penetrating peptide with multiple domains (named dTat-Sar-EED4) induces a novel cellular uptake mechanism that allows for efficient protein internalization into plant cells.

In this study, the research team has successfully utilized dTat-Sar-EED4 for introducing a fluorescent protein and enzyme in their active forms into plant cells. Additionally, the team has demonstrated for the first time that dTat-Sar-EED4 induces a newly discovered cell entry mechanism in plants. This mechanism shares several features with macropinocytosis, which has been established in animal cells but not to date in plant cells.

These findings may pave the way for transgene-free plant bioengineering via direct protein delivery and shed light on macromolecule entry mechanisms in plants.

Original article
JACS Au doi:10.1021/jacsau.1c00504
T. Miyamoto, K. Toyooka, J. Chuah, M. Odahara, M. Higchi-Takeuchi, Y. Goto, Y. Motoda, T. Kigawa, Y. Kodama, K. Numata,
"A Synthetic Multi-Domain Peptide That Drives a Macropinocytosis-Like Mechanism for Cytosolic Transport of Exogenous Proteins into Plants".
Contact
Takaaki Miyamoto; Postdoctoral Researcher
Keiji Numata; Team Leader
Biomacromolecules Research Team