Inactivated Plant Viruses as an Agrochemical Delivery Platform

Nanoparticle-based pesticide delivery systems have emerged to decrease the environmental and health impact of pesticides while increasing their efficacy. A majority of nanopesticides in the development pipeline are synthetic materials, some of which present their own environmental risks. We propose the development of naturally occurring nanomaterials, namely plant viruses such as tobacco mild green mosaic virus (TMGMV), for the delivery of pesticides. We and others have previously shown that plant virus-based nanoparticles have favorable soil mobility properties and thus could offer new avenues for the delivery of pesticides to target root-feeding pests. Toward the application of plant virus-based vectors as pesticide delivery agents, we optimized inactivation methods. We report the successful inactivation of TMGMV using 10 J cm^–2 of ultraviolet light, 1.5 M βPL, or 1 M formalin; the lack of infectivity was confirmed using Nicotiana tabacum Tennessee 86, N. tabacum Samsun nn, and tropical soda apple (Solanum viarum).