Synthesis of α ‐Helical Peptide‐Gold Nanoclusters for Gene Delivery

Abstract In this study, the CCY–RALA peptide with α‐helical structure was designed, and gold nanoclusters with fluorescence were synthesized using the peptide as a template, which was used for nucleic acid delivery. The siRNA uptake experiments indicate that the gold nanoclusters with CCY‐RALA peptide as the template have excellent siRNA delivery ability in different cell lines, with cellular uptake rate up to 99.3%. pDNA and mRNA transfection experiments show that the CCYRALA‐AuNCs also can deliver pDNA and mRNA. In addition, the designed CCYRALA‐AuNCs exhibit excellent biosafety by cytotoxicity analysis. This study proves that the bio‐friendly peptide‐gold nanoclusters are promising nucleic acid delivery carriers and can provide an experimental basis for improving the drug delivery efficiency of peptide vectors.