Foliar nanocarriers for enhanced bioactive uptake and translocation in plants

Overview

This technology offers an organic nanocarrier platform designed to encapsulate dual-function antioxidant and antimicrobial bioactives for foliar application. The nanocarriers address a critical challenge in crop protection: many beneficial compounds have poor foliar uptake and limited translocation to the phloem, the vascular tissue where phloem-restricted pathogens colonize and cause disease. By enhancing the mobility of these compounds, the platform aims to strengthen plant disease resistance through multiple mechanisms, including upregulation of reactive oxygen species scavenging and autophagy, and downregulation of genes associated with sieve tube occlusion.

The solution targets growers and agricultural input companies seeking advanced delivery systems for plant health products. Potential applications include protection against pathogens that cause sieve tube occlusion, reduced reliance on conventional pesticides, and improved efficacy of bioactive crop treatments.

Technical specifications

Key features:

• Core-shell organic nanocarrier architecture designed for translocation after foliar administration
• Flexible and scalable formulation platform adaptable to various bioactive compounds
• Capacity to co-encapsulate compounds with dual antioxidant and antimicrobial activity alongside metal tracers for tracking studies
• Demonstrated translocation efficiency of up to 32% in tomato plants following foliar application
• Validated upregulation of autophagy and ROS-scavenging genes in treated Arabidopsis plants
• Significant enhancement of disease resistance against necrotrophic pathogens in root-treated Arabidopsis

How it works:

The nanocarriers protect encapsulated bioactives and facilitate their movement through the plant's vasculature to the phloem. Once delivered, the compounds reduce pathogen viability and mitigate the plant's hypersensitive response, thereby limiting callose formation and sieve tube occlusion. This dual action preserves phloem function while enhancing the plant's natural defense mechanisms.

Technology readiness level

The technology has been validated through controlled laboratory studies. A between-subject study using Arabidopsis demonstrated that nano-formulated antioxidant compounds significantly enhanced disease resistance against a necrotrophic pathogen, with transcriptomic analyses confirming upregulation of relevant defense genes. Translocation studies in tomato confirmed measurable movement of nanocarriers following foliar administration.

Future validation efforts will focus on co-encapsulating dual-function compounds with metal tracers to track translocation within plant tissues, assessing gene biomarker expression related to oxidative burst, autophagy, callose synthesis, and sieve element occlusion, and evaluating antimicrobial activity in pathogen-infected roots following foliar treatment. The technology is currently at an early-to-mid stage of development, with proof-of-concept data established and further validation underway.