Nucleic Acid Nanotechnology Originated ProtoCell - NANOPC

细胞是生命的基本单位，是一种动态系统，它能感知环境并通过各种反应来适应环境。理解和工程活细胞，虽然回报很高，但由于构成细胞最复杂功能基础的生化网络的复杂性，具有很大的挑战性。因此，可以构建一种替代真实的细胞的更简单的合成物--原始细胞，以设计具有细胞样特征的系统。原细胞有望促进我们对生物学原理的理解，并可能具有重要的医学和工程意义。尽管最近取得了进展，但目前的原始细胞系统未能模仿细胞的核心操作原理来持续操作，与外部环境相互作用，并处理信息以做出决策。在这里，我们将使用合理设计的DNA和RNA组件开发核酸纳米技术起源的ProtoCell（NANOPC）系统。最先进的DNA/RNA纳米技术将用于构建纳米结构和反应电路，以前所未有的精度模拟细胞的蛋白质和遗传网络。由DNA和RNA组成的反应电路是完全可编程的，可以很容易地相互结合，这将使我们能够在长期内根据需要构建复杂的多功能原始细胞。此外，NANOPC将通过使用我最近的成就在原位产生RNA组分，在动态平衡下连续操作这些反应回路。反应回路将用于控制从外部环境中摄取营养物质，例如在反馈回路中实施感知介导的控制。通过对NA纳米结构和反应电路进行编程，NANOPC将能够实现紧急细胞行为，例如维持其内部稳定性（稳态）和处理信息的能力。因此，NANOPC将成为研究生物学基本原理的新平台。DNA/RNA纳米技术的多功能性将最终使NANOPC能够产生生物医学和工程应用。例如，NANOPC可以是一个高通量平台，用于原型生化网络或智能药物递送系统，以感测肿瘤微环境，处理多种信息以释放药物。

Cells, the basic units of life, are dynamic systems that sense the environment and adapt to it through a variety of responses. Understanding and engineering living cells, although highly rewarding, is greatly challenging, due to the complexity of biochemical networks that underlie a cell's most sophisticated functions. A simpler synthetic alternative to real cells - protocells - can therefore be built to design systems with cell-like traits. Protocells promise to facilitate our understanding of the principles of biology, and could, have important medical and engineering implications. Despite recent progress, current protocell systems fail to mimic core operating principles of cells to continuously operate, interact with the external environment, and process information to make decisions. Here, we will develop a Nucleic Acid Nanotechnology Originated ProtoCell (NANOPC) system using rationally designed DNA and RNA components. State-of-the-art DNA/RNA nanotechnology will be used to build nanostructures and reaction circuits that mimic proteins and genetic networks of a cell with unprecedented precision. Reaction circuits made of DNA and RNA are fully programmable and can be easily combined to each other, which will allow us in the long run, to build complex multifunctional protocells on demand. In addition, the NANOPC will continuously operate these reaction circuits at dynamic equilibrium by using my recent achievement to produce RNA components in situ. The reaction circuits will be used to control the uptake of nutrients from the external environment, implementing sensing-mediated controls for example, in feedback loops. By programming NA nanostructures and reaction circuits, the NANOPC will be able to implement emergent cellular behaviours such as the ability to maintain its internal stability (homeostasis) and processing information. Therefore, the NANOPC will be a novel platform to study basic principles of biology. The versatility of DNA/RNA nanotechnology will ultimately enable NANOPC to generate biomedical and engineering applications. For example, the NANOPC could be a high throughput platform for prototyping biochemical networks or a smart drug delivery system to sense tumour microenvironment, process multiple information to release drugs.