Systemic gene silencing in plants triggered by fluorescent nanoparticle-delivered double-stranded RNA.

A cationic fluorescence nanoparticle efficiently enters plants with high transfection efficacy. Applying a mixture of G2/dsRNA to the model plant, Arabidopsis root, leads to significant reduction in the expression of important developmental genes and results in apparent phenotypes. This study reports a non-viral gene nanocarrier which triggers gene silencing in plants and leads to systemic phenotypes.