Reprogrammable bacterial nanosyringes to deliver RNA and gene editors

  • Trends Biotechnol. 2026 Jun 22:S0167-7799(26)00237-4. doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.05.024.
Haishan Xu  1 ,  Lei Feng  1 ,  Ningning Song  2 ,  Xiangxiang Zhao  3 ,  Xianchao Feng  4
Affiliations
  • 1. College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, No. 22 Xinong Road, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China.
  • 2. Weifang Key Laboratory of Respiratory Tract Pathogens and Drug Therapy, School of Life Science and Technology, Shandong Second Medical University, Weifang 261053, China.
  • 3. Weifang Key Laboratory of Respiratory Tract Pathogens and Drug Therapy, School of Life Science and Technology, Shandong Second Medical University, Weifang 261053, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 4. College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, No. 22 Xinong Road, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 42331684 DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.05.024
Abstract

The engineered Photorhabdus virulence cassette (PVC) enables precise protein delivery but has not yet achieved RNA packaging and injection delivery. In this study, we achieved intraluminal RNA loading via the U1A RNA-binding domain, anchoring it to the PVC inner tube and establishing DART (PVC Docker-based All-purpose RNA Injection Delivery Tool). This enabled the protective loading of diverse RNAs, including Pepper RNA, guide RNA, siRNA, miRNA, and mRNA. Through the co-delivery of Cas9 in vitro, DART also drove effective knockouts of enhanced green fluorescent protein gene (EGFP), Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS), and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), representing reporter, oncogenic, and immune-related targets for evaluating DART-mediated gene editing. Notably, DART-mediated KRAS knockout produced a significant antitumor effect in a subcutaneous mouse tumor model. Complementary to the external spike-surface fusion strategy of SPEAR (a PVC system termed spike engineering and retargeting), as an intraluminal nanosyringe platform, DART employs internal engineering to expand PVC from protein to RNA delivery.

Keywords
CRISPR/Cas9; PVC nanosyringes; RNA delivery; gene knockout in vivo; tumor therapy.
Products
Inhibitors & Agonists
Other Products