Nanoparticle delivery to plant chloroplasts has been explored for improving genetic traits and promoting growth. Nonetheless, little information is available regarding the influence of nanomaterial and chloroplast membranes properties on their interaction. In this study, we constructed model chloroplast membranes and interrogated the influence of carbon dot charge, membrane composition, and solution conditions on the interactions of carbon dots using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring. We further examined the interaction of carbon dots with chloroplasts isolated from <i>Arabidopsis thaliana </i>using confocal laser-scanning microscopy. We find that the abundance of sulfoquinovosyl diacylglycerol in model membranes critically influences the affinity of the membrane for positively charged carbon dots. Rates of carbon dot attachment to model chloroplast membranes varied with ionic strength in a manner consistent with a dominant role for electrostatic interactions. We expect our findings to contribute to the development of structure–property–interaction relationships for nanoparticle interaction with chloroplasts.

Influence of sulfolipid density on the extent of carbon dot interaction with chloroplast membranes

ACS Fall 2021

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