HEИндивидуална стипендия2023–2025

DAFNE · Delivery of Small RNAs by Functional Hydrogel Nanoparticles to Improve Osmotic strEss Tolerance in Plants

„Хоризонт Европа“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2023-10-01 → 2025-09-30
Финансиране от ЕС: 188 590 €
Участници: 2
Схема: HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Наночастици от злато и природни полимери се използват за доставяне на малки молекули РНК, които потискат специфични гени в растенията. Това помага за повишаване на устойчивостта им към суша и горещини, за да се намали спадът в реколтата от земеделските култури.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

Delivery of Small RNAs by Functional Hydrogel Nanoparticles to Improve Osmotic strEss Tolerance in Plants

Climate change is having a huge impact on the worldwide crop yield with a considerable decreasing of crop production every year (between 20% to 40% of global crop production). Plant genetic improvement is continuously looking for novel approaches to obtain climate-ready crops, preserving the biodiversity and food safety. DAFNE aims to develop and validate a novel RNA interference (RNAi)-based technique for gene silencing, enabling the production of transgene-free plants while enhancing their tolerance to abiotic stress This project positively contributed towards the creation of novel tools environmental-friendly to make a more sustainable crop, in line with EU policy objectives. RNAi has been already applied as a ‘green’ alternative for plant pest control and crop protection. In DAFNE a new approach is employed by using nanomaterials (NMs) functionalised with small RNA (siRNA) as vectors to trigger RNAi in plants and make them more tolerant to abiotic stress such as heat and drought. NMs represent a good platform to protect the siRNA from degradation and target the genome more specifically by playing with their surface charge. DAFNE is a multidisciplinary project that combines Nanotechnology and Plant Science with the following overall objectives: 1) Design, characterisation, and surface engineering of NMs used as nanocarriers for delivery of siRNA. The NMs considered for this objective are Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) and natural polymers such as alginate and chitosan in the form of emulsions or polyplexes. 2) RNA delivery and gene silencing in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana (At) and Nicotiana benthamiana (Nb) by using AuNPs as primary vectors along with responsive nanogels to control the release of siRNA. 3) Targeted downregulation of known genes to confer abiotic stress tolerance in plant model crop such as Potato.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

RNA interference is a potent technology largely employed to trigger gene silencing and control specific biological processes. Thedelivery of small RNA is one of the most intriguing challenges in RNAi technology. Smart nanomaterials for safe and effective RNAdelivery have been successfully exploited in animals, while a limited number of applications have been proposed in plants so far. Thepresent project aims to develop and to validate smart hydrogel for small RNA (siRNA and miRNA) delivery able to knock down theexpression of selected genes and ultimately promote osmotic stress tolerance in plants. To achieve these objectives, naturalhydrogels such as dextran, poly(ethylene glycol), chitosan and alginate will be synthesised and functionalised with small RNAs inorder to obtain nanomaterials with unique properties. Hydrogels will be applied to plant leaves and roots, both in vitro and in vivo. Asproof of concept, DAFNE will target control genes such as phytoene desaturase (PDS) and green fluorescent protein (GFP) in themodel species Arabidopis thaliana, whose knockdown phenotypes are well-known and easily detected. Subsequently, functionalhydrogels will deliver stress-related miRNAs in order to develop drought tolerant plants in A. thaliana and in a representative foodcrop Solanum tuberosum.Merging distinct expertise, DAFNE will offer the candidate researcher multidisciplinary training in the field of plant biology andgenetics, as well as in molecular and cell biology, which will expand her skills, currently based on chemical engineering.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI SALERNO · Fisciano SaКоординаторИталия
AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS · MadridИспания