Issue 13, 2023

Plasmonic nanorod probes’ journey inside plant cells for in vivo SERS sensing and multimodal imaging

Abstract

Nanoparticle-based platforms are gaining strong interest in plant biology and bioenergy research to monitor and control biological processes in whole plants. However, in vivo monitoring of biomolecules using nanoparticles inside plant cells remains challenging due to the impenetrability of the plant cell wall to nanoparticles beyond the exclusion limits (5–20 nm). To overcome this physical barrier, we have designed unique bimetallic silver-coated gold nanorods (AuNR@Ag) capable of entering plant cells, while conserving key plasmonic properties in the near-infrared (NIR). To demonstrate cellular internalization and tracking of the nanorods inside plant tissue, we used a comprehensive multimodal imaging approach that included transmission electron microscopy (TEM), confocal fluorescence microscopy, two-photon luminescence (TPL), X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XRF), and photoacoustics imaging (PAI). We successfully acquired SERS signals of nanorods in vivo inside plant cells of tobacco leaves. On the same leaf samples, we applied orthogonal imaging methods, TPL and PAI techniques for in vivo imaging of the nanorods. This study first demonstrates the intracellular internalization of AuNR@Ag inside whole plant systems for in vivo SERS analysis in tobacco cells. This work demonstrates the potential of this nanoplatform as a new nanotool for intracellular in vivo biosensing for plant biology.

Graphical abstract: Plasmonic nanorod probes’ journey inside plant cells for in vivo SERS sensing and multimodal imaging

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 11月 2022
Accepted
07 3月 2023
First published
13 3月 2023

Nanoscale, 2023,15, 6396-6407

Author version available

Plasmonic nanorod probes’ journey inside plant cells for in vivo SERS sensing and multimodal imaging

V. Cupil-Garcia, J. Q. Li, S. J. Norton, R. A. Odion, P. Strobbia, L. Menozzi, C. Ma, J. Hu, R. Zentella, M. I. Boyanov, Y. Z. Finfrock, D. Gursoy, D. S. Douglas, J. Yao, T. Sun, K. M. Kemner and T. Vo-Dinh, Nanoscale, 2023, 15, 6396 DOI: 10.1039/D2NR06235F

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