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Updated: Jul 19, 2025
Peptide-derived Method to Transport Genes and Proteins Across Cellular and Organellar Barriers in Plants
Published on: December 16, 2016
Delivered complementation in planta (DCIP) enables measurement of peptide-mediated protein delivery efficiency in
Jeffrey W Wang1, Henry J Squire1, Natalie S Goh1
1Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
Abstract:
Using a fluorescence complementation assay, Delivered Complementation in Planta (DCIP), we demonstrate cell-penetrating peptide-mediated cytosolic delivery of peptides and recombinant proteins in Nicotiana benthamiana. We show that DCIP enables quantitative measurement of protein delivery efficiency and enables functional screening of cell-penetrating peptides for in-planta protein delivery. Finally, we demonstrate that DCIP detects cell-penetrating peptide-mediated delivery of recombinantly expressed proteins such as mCherry and Lifeact into intact leaves. We also demonstrate delivery of a recombinant plant transcription factor, WUSCHEL (AtWUS), into N. benthamiana. RT-qPCR analysis of AtWUS delivery in Arabidopsis seedlings also suggests delivered WUS can recapitulate transcriptional changes induced by overexpression of AtWUS. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that DCIP offers a new and powerful tool for interrogating cytosolic delivery of proteins in plants and highlights future avenues for engineering plant physiology.
