Tiny needles offer a gentler way into plant cells
Xu F, Yu J, Zhang Z, Chen J, Wang L
Crop Improvement
Every genetically improved crop or lab-grown plant tissue starts with getting new material past a cell wall without killing the cell, and this technique could make that step far less destructive.
Plant and fungal cells are wrapped in a rigid wall that's great for protection but terrible for scientists trying to insert new genetic material or chemicals into them. The usual trick is to dissolve that wall with enzymes, which often leaves the cell too damaged to survive. This review rounds up progress on a more precise alternative: ultra-fine needles guided by robotics that poke through the wall to deliver material directly, with less collateral damage.
Key Findings
Reviews advances in probe design and fabrication for micro/nanoinjection into walled plant and fungal cells
Covers automation and force-feedback systems developed to improve throughput and cell survival rates
Surveys applications across multiple walled cell types and outlines a roadmap for standardized protocols
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists reviewed a new way to get genes, dyes, or other materials directly into plant and fungal cells by physically poking through their tough outer walls with tiny needles, instead of dissolving the wall with chemicals that often kill the cell.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Penetrating the cell wall: a review on delivering exogenous materials into plant and fungal cells via micro/nanoinjection.
Intracellular delivery into walled cells is essential for advancing research in plant science, microbiology, and synthetic biology. Conventional enzymatic wall degradation methods are inherently de...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Was this useful?
Want to tell us more? (optional)
Thanks for the note!
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many submissions. Try again in an hour.
Gene editing removes 97% of celiac-triggering proteins from bread wheat
It could mean that people with celiac disease — roughly 1 in 100 worldwide — may one day safely eat bread made from real wheat, without sacrificing the taste...
Propagation refers to the methods by which plants reproduce and multiply, whether through sexual reproduction via seeds or asexual techniques like cuttings, grafting, division, and tissue culture. Understanding propagation is essential for plant science because it enables researchers and growers to
arrow_forward Explore topic