Virus-Inspired Self-Assembled Nanofibers with Aggregation-Induced Emission for Highly Efficient and Visible Gene Delivery.
Chunqiu ZhangTingbin ZhangShubin JinXiangdong XueXiaolong YangNingqiang GongJinchao ZhangPaul C WangJian-Hua TianJinfeng XingXing-Jie LiangPublished in: ACS applied materials & interfaces (2017)
High-efficiency gene transfer and suitably low cytotoxicity are the main goals of gene transfection systems based on nonviral vectors. In addition, it is desirable to track the gene transfer process in order to observe and explain the mechanism. Herein, inspired by viral structures that are optimized for gene delivery, we designed a small-molecule gene vector (TR4) with aggregation-induced emission properties by capping a peptide containing four arginine residues with tetraphenylethene (TPE) and a lipophilic tail. This novel vector can self-assemble with plasmid DNA to form nanofibers in solution with low cytotoxicity, high stability, and high transfection efficiency. pDNA@TR4 complexes were able to transfect a variety of different cell lines, including stem cells. The self-assembly process induces bright fluorescence from TPE, which makes the nanofibers visible by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). This allows us for the tracking of the gene delivery process.
Keyphrases
- highly efficient
- stem cells
- small molecule
- copy number
- genome wide
- single molecule
- high efficiency
- high resolution
- genome wide identification
- escherichia coli
- nitric oxide
- high speed
- gene expression
- high throughput
- mass spectrometry
- genome wide analysis
- crispr cas
- dna methylation
- transcription factor
- single cell
- cell therapy
- electron transfer