The emerging role of nanotechnology in plant genetic engineering

Genetic engineering to improve the capabilities of plants is essential given climate change and population growth pressures. Current manipulation methods are laborious and species dependent, which limits advances in agriculture and molecular farming. Therefore, new approaches and tools are needed to broaden the range of transformable species and increase the throughput at which transformation is achieved. Nanotechnology has revolutionized delivery, sensing and imaging in microbial and animal systems, but its application in plants remains scant. However, reports of nano-mediated delivery for the genetic manipulation of plants have emerged, including direct germline editing as well as plastid and mitochondrial genome modification. Here, we review the application of nanotechnology to plant genetic manipulation, including the development of nanocarriers for the delivery of genetic cargos and advances in nano-mediated plant regeneration. Particular focus is given to understanding structure–function relationships for the rational design of nanocarriers, and how these developments can catalyse progress in nucleic acid and protein delivery for plant biotechnology applications. Current methods for the genetic manipulation of plants have low throughput and are amenable to a limited range of species. This Review discusses advances in the development of nanotechnology tools and the understanding of structure–function relationships to overcome these issues.