Collective Behaviour in Synthetic Protocell Consortia

制造具有小规模结构和多组分的新材料有望在传感、储存和释放操作以及可控催化等广泛应用中发挥重要作用。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。我们解决必要简化的方法是从想象中的情景中获得灵感，这些情景被认为是早期地球上的益生菌组织的合理机制。因此，我们受到这些基于原始生命的材料组织模型的启发，在实验室开发新的策略，从而设计和建造具有新特性和功能的化学微隔室。在某种意义上，我们的目标是抽象过去的想法，以便为未来开发新技术。尽管目前有几种新类型的原细胞可用，但合成原细胞群落的设计和对其集体行为的调查几乎没有受到关注。在这方面，拟议的工作有两个主要主题，它们将帮助我们为基于软细胞状胶体微隔室的新型集成材料的合理设计、建造和集体行为制定指导方针。其中一个主题是准备具有组织层(“嵌套”结构)的原始细胞，并在这些层次分明的小物体的不同房间中捕获不同的组件。例如，我们打算在嵌套的原细胞的不同层中捕获关键酶，以便在每个单独的原细胞中建立受控的化学途径。此外，我们希望尝试并建立一种人工合成的原始细胞，其中含有可用于合成蛋白质和酶(催化剂)的遗传信息。与这些研究相辅相成的是，第二个主题集中在单室原始细胞的混合物上，这些细胞共同形成了具有不同特性和功能的小规模物体的“群落”。我们的目标是开发使用声波驻波的微工程方法，将原始细胞群落的成员放置在有序阵列中的特定位置，以便他们可以相互进行化学通信。此外，我们的目标是生产含有原始细胞混合种群的水分散体，这些原始细胞展示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”原细胞，当它们接触到第二种类型的原细胞时，它将专门针对并化学地分解它们。这将使我们能够研究这一小规模物体社区内的复杂相互作用，并在相互作用的人工细胞状微结构的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.