Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1-IE-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan.
J Biosci. 2021;46(3). doi: 10.1007/s12038-021-00204-z.
One aspect of the study of the origins of life focuses on how primitive chemistries assembled into the first cells on Earth and how these primitive cells evolved into modern cells. Membraneless droplets generated from liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) are one potential primitive cell-like compartment; current research in origins of life includes study of the structure, function, and evolution of such systems. However, the goal of primitive LLPS research is not simply curiosity or striving to understand one of life's biggest unanswered questions, but also the possibility to discover functions or structures useful for application in the modern day. Many applicational fields, including biotechnology, synthetic biology, and engineering, utilize similar phaseseparated structures to accomplish specific functions afforded by LLPS. Here, we briefly review LLPS applied to primitive compartment research and then present some examples of LLPS applied to biomolecule purification, drug delivery, artificial cell construction, waste and pollution management, and flavor encapsulation. Due to a significant focus on similar functions and structures, there appears to be much for origins of life researchers to learn from those working on LLPS in applicational fields, and , and we hope that such researchers can start meaningful cross-disciplinary collaborations in the future.
生命起源研究的一个方面关注的是原始化学物质如何在地球上组装成第一个细胞，以及这些原始细胞如何进化成现代细胞。由液-液相分离（LLPS）产生的无膜液滴是一种潜在的原始细胞样隔室；生命起源研究目前包括对这些系统的结构、功能和进化的研究。然而，原始 LLPS 研究的目的不仅是出于好奇或努力理解生命最大的未解之谜之一，还在于有可能发现对现代应用有用的功能或结构。许多应用领域，包括生物技术、合成生物学和工程学，都利用类似的相分离结构来实现由 LLPS 赋予的特定功能。在这里，我们简要回顾了应用于原始隔室研究的 LLPS，然后介绍了一些将 LLPS 应用于生物分子纯化、药物传递、人工细胞构建、废物和污染管理以及风味封装的例子。由于对类似功能和结构的高度关注，生命起源研究人员似乎可以从应用领域的 LLPS 研究人员那里学到很多东西，我们希望这些研究人员能够在未来开始进行有意义的跨学科合作。
