Due to the versatile nature of nanoparticles, recently their applications have been extended to plant sciences which were limited to the animal sciences in the past. Nanoparticle-mediated transformation methods for plants can overcome the problems of conventional transformation methods. The present study was conducted to use Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) to carry foreign genes into Nicotiana tabacum. Different characterization techniques such as XRD, FTIR and SEM confirmed the formation of MSNs. To evaluate the uptake of MSNs in the plants, protoplasts were used as source material. Plasmid p35SGUSINT, containing β- glucuronidase (GUS) as gene of interest was used for coating of nanoparticles. These DNA coated MSNs were incubated with protoplasts to evaluate the ability of MSNs to be carried inside the plant cells and to deliver foreign gene inside the plants. Faint GUS gene expression was observed in protoplasts incubated with DNA coated MSNs, treated with PEG and sonicated. Nanoparticles have the potential to carry and transfer the foreign genes in plants. This method can be further developed and tried for chloroplast transformation.

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