Plant Mitochondrial-Targeted Gene Delivery by Peptide/DNA Micelles Quantitatively Surface-Modified with Mitochondrial Targeting and Membrane-Penetrating Peptides

Plant mitochondria play essential roles in metabolism and respiration. Recently, there has been growing interest in mitochondrial transformation for developing crops with commercially valuable traits, such as resistance to environmental stress and shorter fallow periods. Mitochondrial targeting and cell membrane penetration functions are crucial for improving the gene delivery efficiency of mitochondrial transformation. Here, we developed a peptide-based carrier, referred to as Cytcox/KAibA-Mic, that contains multifunctional peptides for efficient transfection into plant mitochondria. We quantified the mitochondrial targeting and cell membrane-penetrating peptide modification rates to control their functions. The modification rates were easily determined from high-performance liquid chromatography chromatograms. Additionally, the gene carrier size remained constant even when the mitochondrial targeting peptide modification rate was altered. Using this gene carrier, we can quantitatively investigate the relationships between various peptide modifications and transfection efficiency and optimize the gene carrier conditions for mitochondrial transfection.