Fluorescence Traceable Carboxyl Silicon Carbide Nanoparticle-Mediated Gene Delivery System Development and Application

Silicon carbide (SiC) nanoparticle is similar to nano-diamonds with a sp³ core structure. Similarly, SiC nanoparticles are biocompatible materials that may be used for biomedical applications. In this study, two-nanometer scale carboxyl modified SiC (c-SiC) nanoparticles were conjugated with His-tag containing red fluorescence protein, His-mCherry-SiC, and formed a nano-complex. Furthermore, the plasmid DNA molecules those contained the fusion gene of green fluorescence protein and partial sequence of hemagglutinin (HA) were conjugated with the His-mCherry-SiC nano-complex and formed DNA-His-mCherry-SiC nanoparticle. The HA peptide fragment may be used as antigen to induce the anti-avian flu antibody. Due to the ultra-small size of this nanoparticle, it can be uptake by cell easily. Therefore, SiC nanoparticles were transfected into primary chicken embryonic fibroblasts DF-1 cells. The GFP-partial HA fusion protein can be found inside the DF-1 cell. At the same time, this fusion protein can be secreted into cell culture medium, as well. Therefore, this system may be used for avian flu vaccine applications. In summary, we have developed a gene delivery system can be used for gene editing and delivery with high efficiency.