Study of enzymes inside liquid-liquid phase separated crowded droplets

我们最近首次发现，具有酶活性的人工原始细胞能够在化学梯度后在溶液中移动。液滴中的酶产生的pH变化以趋化的方式驱动液滴的运动。我们通过生化、成像和流体机理研究等手段对其分子机理进行了详细的研究。我们还证明了这些液滴能够重建一条简单而线性的原代谢途径。我们目前正在研究液-液分离的原细胞中几种酶的催化效率。

We recently discovered for the first time that enzymatically active artificial protocells are able to move in solution following a chemical gradient. The pH change generated by the enzyme within the droplets drives the droplets movement in chemotactic manner. We have investigated on the molecular mechanism in detail by means of biochemical, imaging and fluid mechanism studies. We also demonstrated that these droplets are able to reconstitute a simple and linear protometabolic pathway. We are currently studying the catalytic efficiency of several enzymes inside our liquid-liquid phase separated protocells.