Engineering multi-compartment vesicle networks
Engineering multi-compartment vesicle networks
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DOI：
10.1039/c3sc51164b
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发表时间：
2013-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
8.4
通讯作者：
Ces, Oscar
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Elani, Yuval;Gee, Antony;Ces, Oscar
囊泡在人工细胞的构建中起着重要的作用。它们通过将反应物和产物限制在太空中来促进生化反应，并划定了原细胞的边界。它们允许形成浓度梯度，并通过嵌入的蛋白质控制分子的通过。然而，到目前为止，制造策略一直集中在单室结构上，导致囊泡的内部含量均一。这与真正的细胞不同，真实细胞的成分和过程在空间上是分离的。我们通过制造网络化的多室囊泡来弥合这一鸿沟。它们是通过使用重力中介的相转移过程将多个油包水液滴与外部双层包裹在一起而产生的。我们能够控制隔室的含量，并可以通过改变包裹的液滴的数量来定义囊泡的结构。我们通过插入蛋白质通道证明了双层具有生物功能，这种通道促进了内部隔室之间以及隔室与外部环境之间的物质转移。这为构建小泡间和小泡内通信网络铺平了道路。重要的是，多隔室小泡允许在真实细胞中看到的空间动态组织首次被引入人造细胞中。
Vesicles serve important functions in the construction of artificial cells. They facilitate biochemical reactions by confining reactants and products in space, and delineate the boundaries of the protocell. They allow concentration gradients to form, and control the passage of molecules via embedded proteins. However, to date, manufacturing strategies have focussed on uni-compartmental structures, resulting in vesicles with homogenous internal content. This is in contrast to real cells which have spatial segregation of components and processes. We bridge this divide by fabricating networked multi-compartment vesicles. These were generated by encasing multiple water-in-oil droplets with an external bilayer, using a process of gravity-mediated phase-transfer. We were able to control the content of the compartments, and could define the vesicle architecture by varying the number of encased droplets. We demonstrated the bilayers were biologically functional by inserting protein channels, which facilitated material transfer between the internal compartments themselves, and between the compartments and their external environment. This paves the way for the construction of inter- and intra-vesicle communication networks. Importantly, multi-compartment vesicles allow the spatio-dynamic organisation seen in real cells to be introduced into artificial ones for the first time.