Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Science Park Golm, 14424, Potsdam, Germany.
Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128, Mainz, Germany.
Nat Commun. 2020 Feb 14;11(1):905. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-14696-0.
The proliferation of life on earth is based on the ability of single cells to divide into two daughter cells. During cell division, the plasma membrane undergoes a series of morphological transformations which ultimately lead to membrane fission. Here, we show that analogous remodeling processes can be induced by low densities of proteins bound to the membranes of cell-sized lipid vesicles. Using His-tagged fluorescent proteins, we are able to precisely control the spontaneous curvature of the vesicle membranes. By fine-tuning this curvature, we obtain dumbbell-shaped vesicles with closed membrane necks as well as neck fission and complete vesicle division. Our results demonstrate that the spontaneous curvature generates constriction forces around the membrane necks and that these forces can easily cover the force range found in vivo. Our approach involves only one species of membrane-bound proteins at low densities, thereby providing a simple and extendible module for bottom-up synthetic biology.
地球上生命的增殖是基于单细胞分裂成两个子细胞的能力。在细胞分裂过程中，质膜经历一系列形态变化，最终导致膜分裂。在这里，我们表明，类似的重塑过程可以被结合在细胞大小的脂质泡膜上的低浓度蛋白质诱导。使用 His 标记的荧光蛋白，我们能够精确控制囊泡膜的自发曲率。通过微调这种曲率，我们得到了具有闭合膜颈的哑铃形囊泡，以及颈裂变和完整囊泡分裂。我们的结果表明，自发曲率在膜颈周围产生收缩力，并且这些力很容易覆盖体内发现的力范围。我们的方法仅涉及低浓度的一种膜结合蛋白，从而为自下而上的合成生物学提供了一个简单且可扩展的模块。
