Biodegradable pH-responsive polysuccinimide nanoparticles (PSI-NPs) are synthesized for directly delivering agrochemicals to plant phloem to improve their efficacy. The PSI-NPs have an average size of 20.6 nm with negative charge on the surface. The desired responsiveness to changes in pH is demonstrated by release efficiency of the model molecule (Coumarin 6), which increases with increasing pH over 24 h. The internalization of PSI-NPs into grapefruit cells occurs in 10 min, and into nucleus in 2 h, with most of the PSI-NPs being distributed in cytoplasm and nucleus. The proportion of PSI-NPs in plant cells significantly increases with time, from 19.1% at 10 min to 55.5% at 2 h of administering. The PSI-NPs do not show significant inhibitory effects on soil microbial growth and activity. These results indicate that this smart nanodelivery system has potential of application in agriculture for mitigating phloem-limited diseases, such as citrus huanglongbing.
Keywords: cellular internalization; citrus HLB; microbial toxicity; polymeric nanoparticles; release efficiency.
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