Tobacco Leaf Virus (TMV): Building an efficient and safe gene delivery system.

RNA interference technology (RNAi) is now widely used in the treatment of genetic diseases, malignancies and AIDS, its core challenge is how to achieve the target gene efficient, safe and stable delivery.
in RNA interference technology, viral gene vector and non-viral gene carrier have their own advantages and limitations.
virus gene vector has the high transfection efficiency given by nature, but its toxicity and immunogenicity side effect greatly hinder its development, non-viral gene carrier (liposome carrier and cation polymer carrier) is non-immune, and can be used by molecular design to build a multi-functional assembly structure, but all along, its gene transfection efficiency can not be comparable with viral vector.
recently, inspired by the high transfection efficiency of viral gene vectors and the safety of non-viral vectors, the Center for Biological Materials and Applied Technology Research of the Institute of Science and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has for the first time built an efficient and safe gene delivery system using a one-dimensional rod-like plant virus (TMV) that does not have an immune-togenic side effect on mammals.
the study, the charge reversal and lysosome escape capability of the vector (TMV-TAT) was realized by modifying the cell membrane peptide TAT on the outer surface of the TMV, and the load of small interfering RNA (siRNA) was realized through electrostatic interaction. The gene delivery system siRNA TMV-TAT obtained by
can effectively achieve gene silencing of green fluorescent proteins, and has been verified in in vitro cell experiments and in in vivo tumor naked mice.
the same biosecurity than the commercial gene transfection reagents Lipofectamine 2000 and PEI25k, TMV-TAT, a gene carrier based on the one-dimensional plant virus, has a higher gene transfection efficiency.
this work combines the high transfection efficiency of viral gene vectors with the safety of non-viral vectors, and the use of one-dimensional rod-like plant viruses in RNA interference technology in mammals not only opens up a new direction for biomedical materials based on plant viruses, but also provides a novel, efficient and safe strategy for the delivery of gene drugs, which may have a significant impact on the development of RNA interference technology.
research based on Integration of Cell-Turning WithS Bionanoparticles: Virus-Inspired Gene Silencing Technology, published recently in Nano Letters (DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b01805), and Research Fellow Niu Zhongwei of the Institute of Science and Technology, the lead author of the paper.
related research work has been supported by the Beijing Natural Science Foundation, the National Key Research and Development Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Director of the Institute of Science and Science.
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