A gene delivery system for insect cells mediated by arginine-rich cell-penetrating peptides

Most bioactive macromolecules, such as protein, DNA and RNA, basically cannot permeate into cells freely from outside the plasma membrane. Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are a group of short peptides that possess the ability to traverse the cell membrane and have been considered as candidates for mediating gene and drug delivery into living cells. In this study, we demonstrate that three arginine-rich CPPs (SR9, HR9 and PR9) are able to form stable complexes with plasmid DNA and deliver DNA into insect Sf9 cells in a noncovalent manner. The transferred plasmid DNA containing enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and red fluorescent protein (RFP) coding regions could be expressed in cells functionally assayed at both the protein and RNA levels. Furthermore, treatment of cells with CPPs and CPP/DNA complexes resulted in a viability of 84–93% indicating these CPPs are not cytotoxic. These results suggest that arginine-rich CPPs appear to be a promising tool for insect transgenesis.

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► We demonstrate that 3 cell-penetrating peptides can deliver DNA into insect cells.
► The transferred plasmid DNA could be functionally expressed in Sf9 cells.
► Furthermore, MTT assay indicated these CPPs are not cytotoxic.
► These results suggest that 3 peptides are a promising tool for insect transgenesis.