Bionanotechnology Applications in Plants and Agriculture - Bionanotechnology: Global Prospects - page 529

shooting.nanoparticles.at.a.plant.cell..The.nanoparticles.are.coated.with.DNA.of.interest,.
and.a.certain.percentage.of.the.DNA.can.get.through.the.cell.wall.and.into.the.nucleus,.
and.be.expressed.
26.4.5.2 Nanoparticles for Gene Delivery
Another.approach.that.employed.starch.nanoparticles.was.reported.in.2008.by.Liu.et.al. 39 .
The. material. was. synthesized. as. a. water-in-oil. microemulsion. and. coated. with. poly-L-
lysine..The.surface.of.the.starch.nanoparticles.was.combined.with.luorescence.dye.and.
then.conjugated.with.pEGAD.plasmid.DNA.coding.for.green.luorescence.protein.(GFP)..
Mediated.by.ultrasound,.plant.suspension.cells.were.treated.with.the.DNA-nanoparticle.
complexes,.which.could.pierce.the.cell.wall.and.the.cell.membrane.and.enter.the.nucleus..
The.expression.of.the.GFP.was.observed.at.a.high.frequency.of.>5%.
26.4.5.3 Fullerene Nanoparticles for Gene Delivery
The.Wilson/Flinn.team.is.focused.on.the.application.of.nanoscale.materials.and.assemblies.
to.aid.in.the.development.of.novel.bioenergy.crops.such.as.switchgrass.and. Miscanthus ..The.
collaboration.between.Transformation.Nanotechnologies.and.the.Institute.for.Sustainable.
and. Renewable. Resources. uses. proprietary. fullerene. nanoparticle. plant. transformation.
technology,.with.the.ultimate.goal.being.the.creation.of.bioenergy.feedstocks.with.supe-
rior.qualities. 40
26.4.5.4 Fullerenes as Reagents
Degradation.of.pollen.grains.of. Cycas rumphii .(palm).was.achieved.using.a.novel.reagent.
C60.fullerene.in.benzene.solution..Transmission.electron.microscopic.observations.were.
presented.showing.unique.characteristics.of.this.new.nanoparticle.reagent.compared.to.
the.usual.ixative.agents,.such.as.OsO 4 . 41
26.5 PlantsasNanobiosensors
Several. other. interesting. approaches. for. chemical. detection. systems. for. pollutants. and.
pathogens. have. been. reported. 42-44 . The. strategy. involves. using. plants. as. biosensors. by.
inserting.signaling.genes.that.can.respond.to.external.molecular.events.
26.6 PlantsandMicrobesasNano-Factories
Another. area. of. future. interest. is. the. potential. use. of. plants. to. create. nanoparticles.
of.nanomaterials.via.biosynthesis. 45 .Ankamwar.et.al. 45 .report.the.extracellular.synthe-
sis. of. gold. and. silver. nanoparticles. using. Emblica oficinalis . (amla,. Indian. gooseberry).
fruit. extract. as. the. reducing. agent. to. synthesize. Ag. and. Au. nanoparticles,. their. sub-
sequent. phase. transfer. to. an. organic. solution,. and. the. transmetallation. reaction. of.