Nanofabrication of silk microneedles for high-throughput micronutrient delivery and continuous sap monitoring in plants
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Cao_Kim_et_al_PFA_Manuscript_FINAL.pdf
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Author(s)
Cao, Yunteng
Kim, Doyoon
Koh, Sally Shuxian
Li, Zheng
Rigoldi, Federica
Fortmueller, Julia Eva
Goh, Kasey
Zhang, Yilin
Lim, Eugene J.
Sun, Hui
Date Issued
April 29, 2025
Journal
Nature Nanotechnology
Citation
Cao, Y., Kim, D., Koh, S.S. et al. Nanofabrication of silk microneedles for high-throughput micronutrient delivery and continuous sap monitoring in plants. Nat. Nanotechnol. (2025).
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Biomaterials bridging the biotic–abiotic interface in plants offer the opportunity to precisely deliver agrochemicals and continuously monitor plant health, with the goals of increasing resilience to climate change, enhancing crop production and mitigating environmental impact. In this study we report the manipulation of silk fibroin assembly with inorganics nucleation at their phase front to nanomanufacture porous and hollow microneedles that can be interfaced with plants. Plant growth analysis and quantification of wounding gene expression show a non-significant systemic wounding response to the injection of silk microneedles in tomato plants. Microneedles with a hollow structure enable the systemic delivery of plant micronutrients to treat chlorosis in tomato plants and crop biofortification through transport of human micronutrients injected in the petiole and loaded into tomato fruits. Hollow microneedles also provide access to plant vasculature for sap sampling, enabling continuous monitoring and early detection of phytoaccumulation of environmental contaminants such as cadmium.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering
Singapore-MIT Alliance in Research and Technology (SMART)
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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01923-2
