Collective Behaviour in Synthetic Protocell Consortia

制造具有小尺度结构和多组分的新材料在传感、存储和释放操作以及控制催化等广泛应用中具有重要意义。小规模结构可能取得重大突破的一个新领域是人工细胞样材料（原始细胞）的形成。这种方法的大部分灵感来自于模仿活细胞的关键方面，尽管有很大程度的简化。我们解决必要的简化的方法是从被认为是早期地球上的益生元组织的合理机制的想象场景中汲取灵感。因此，我们受到这些基于原始生物的材料组织模型的启发，在实验室中开发新的策略，这将导致具有新特性和功能的化学微室的设计和建造。从某种意义上说，我们的目标是抽象过去的概念，以便为未来开发新技术。虽然目前有几种新型的原始细胞，但合成原始细胞群落的设计和对其集体行为的研究却很少受到关注。在这方面，提出的工作有两个主要主题，这将有助于我们为基于软细胞状胶体微室的新型集成材料的合理设计、构建和集体行为制定指导方针。其中一个主题集中在制备具有组织层（“嵌套”结构）的原始细胞，并在这些分层小物体的不同腔室中捕获不同的成分。例如，我们打算在嵌套的原始细胞的不同层中捕获关键酶，以便在每个单独的原始细胞中建立受控的化学途径。此外，我们希望尝试构建一个具有“核”的合成原始细胞，其中包含可用于合成蛋白质和酶（催化剂）的遗传信息。作为这些研究的补充，第二个主题关注的是单室原始细胞的混合物，它们共同形成了一个具有不同性质和功能的小尺度物体的“群落”。我们的目标是开发微工程方法，利用声波驻波将原始细胞群落的成员放置在有序阵列中的特定位置，以便它们可以化学地相互通信。此外，我们的目标是生产含有混合原始细胞的水分散体，这些细胞表现出一种简单形式的捕食-被捕食行为。为此，我们将设计一种“杀手”原始细胞，当它们接触时，它会专门针对第二种类型的原始细胞并进行化学分解。这将使我们能够研究小规模物体群体内复杂的相互作用，并在相互作用的人工细胞样微结构混合种群中发展新的概念，如原始细胞“自卫”和“针锋相对”策略。

Making new materials that have small-scale structures and multiple components is expected to be of great importance in a wide range of applications such as sensing, storage and release operations, and controlled catalysis. One new area where small-scale structures could make a significant breakthrough is in the formation of artificial cell-like materials (protocells). Much of the inspiration for this approach comes from mimicking key aspects of the living cell, albeit with a large degree of simplification. Our approach to addressing the necessary simplification is to draw inspiration from imaginative scenarios that are being considered as plausible mechanisms for prebiotic organization on the early Earth. We are therefore inspired by these protolife-based models of materials organization to develop new strategies in the laboratory that will result in the design and construction of chemical micro-compartments with novel properties and functions. In a sense, we aim to abstract ideas about the past in order to develop new technologies for the future. Although several new types of protocells are currently available, the design of synthetic protocell communities and investigation of their collective behaviour has received little attention. In this regard, the proposed work has two main themes that will help us develop guidelines for the rational design, construction and collective behaviour of new classes of integrated materials based on soft cell-like colloidal micro-compartments. One theme focuses on preparing protocells with layers of organization ("nested" structures) and capturing different components in different chambers of these hierarchical small objects. For example, we intend to trap key enzymes in different layers of the nested protocells so that controlled chemical pathways can be established within each individual protocell. Moreover, we wish to try and build a synthetic protocell that has a "nucleus" within it, which contains genetic information that can be used to synthesize proteins and enzymes (catalysts). Complementary to these studies, a second theme focuses on mixtures of single-chambered protocells that together form a "community" of small-scale objects with different properties and functions. Our goal is to develop micro-engineering methods using acoustic standing waves to place members of the protocell community in specific locations within an ordered array so that they can chemically communicate with each other. In addition, we aim to produce aqueous dispersions containing a mixed population of protocells that exhibit a simple form of predatory-prey behaviour. For this, we will design a "killer" protocell that will specifically target and chemically disassemble a second type of protocell when they come into contact. This will allow us to study complex interactions within this community of small-scale objects, and to develop new concepts such as protocell "self-defence" and "tit-for-tat" strategies in mixed populations of interacting artificial cell-like microstructures.