Exosome-like nanovesicles from acerola for CRISPR-Cas9 ribonucleoprotein delivery to the central nervous system.
Nagamatsu Y, Umezu T, Hong T, Niijima T, Ohno SI
Medicinal Plants
The acerola cherry — a tropical fruit you might find at a Latin market or growing in a warm-climate container garden — turns out to produce microscopic membrane bubbles that can slip past the brain's tightest security checkpoint, hinting that plants may be quietly supplying medicine's next toolkit.
Acerola, a small tropical fruit famous for its sky-high vitamin C content, releases tiny natural particles that scientists scooped up and loaded with a gene-editing tool. When sprayed into the nose of mice, those particles traveled to the brain and successfully rewrote a stretch of DNA tied to ALS. The finding opens a window onto how plants might serve as living factories for brain medicines that no synthetic nanoparticle has safely matched yet.
Key Findings
Acerola-derived nanoparticles formed stable complexes with CRISPR-Cas9 protein and guide RNA without breaking down under storage conditions.
Attaching a GLP2 peptide tag to the plant-particle complexes improved delivery selectivity to neurons expressing GLP2 receptors compared to untagged particles.
Intranasal administration in live animals achieved confirmed genome editing of the C9orf72 mutation site in the brain, the most common genetic cause of familial ALS.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists harvested tiny bubble-like particles naturally produced by the acerola fruit and used them to deliver CRISPR gene-editing tools into the brains of living animals via a nose spray. The plant-derived particles successfully edited a gene linked to ALS and frontotemporal dementia, suggesting a noninvasive route around the brain's toughest biological barrier.
Abstract Preview
An aberrant six-base repeat in intron 1 of C9orf72 is the most frequent cause of solitary and familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia. This mutation is a potential target...
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Malpighia emarginata is a tropical fruit-bearing shrub or small tree in the family Malpighiaceae native to the Neotropics. The fruit is notable for its exceptional richness in vitamin C and versatility in various food preparations.