Remote control of CRISPR nanoplasmonic carriers

CRISPR-Cas9 is an efficient and reliable tool to cleave targeted portions of DNA. Once the DNA been cut by the tool, genes are ready to be cut, inserted or modified as desired. Conventionally, CRISPR is carried by a virus into cells. However, potential safety issues exists, as the cell can physiologically respond to viral invasion, or its genome can be inserted with unwanted virus genes. Here, we show that gold nanoparticles serves as preferable successful vectors of CRISPR-Cas9, with extra benefit to allow stable imaging. This toxicity-free alternative method avoids the aforementioned issues and introduces the CRISPR-Cas9 complex safely