Xu Can, Martin Nicolas, Li Mei, Mann Stephen
Centre for Protolife Research and Centre for Organized Matter Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, UMR5031, Pessac, France.
Nature. 2022 Sep;609(7929):1029-1037. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05223-w. Epub 2022 Sep 14.
Advancing the spontaneous bottom-up construction of artificial cells with high organizational complexity and diverse functionality remains an unresolved issue at the interface between living and non-living matter. Here, to address this challenge, we developed a living material assembly process based on the capture and on-site processing of spatially segregated bacterial colonies within individual coacervate microdroplets for the endogenous construction of membrane-bounded, molecularly crowded, and compositionally, structurally and morphologically complex synthetic cells. The bacteriogenic protocells inherit diverse biological components, exhibit multifunctional cytomimetic properties and can be endogenously remodelled to include a spatially partitioned DNA-histone nucleus-like condensate, membranized water vacuoles and a three-dimensional network of F-actin proto-cytoskeletal filaments. The ensemble is biochemically energized by ATP production derived from implanted live Escherichia coli cells to produce a cellular bionic system with amoeba-like external morphology and integrated life-like properties. Our results demonstrate a bacteriogenic strategy for the bottom-up construction of functional protoliving microdevices and provide opportunities for the fabrication of new synthetic cell modules and augmented living/synthetic cell constructs with potential applications in engineered synthetic biology and biotechnology.
推进具有高度组织复杂性和多样功能的人工细胞的自下而上的自发构建,仍然是生命与非生命物质界面上一个尚未解决的问题。在此,为应对这一挑战,我们开发了一种活性材料组装过程,该过程基于在单个凝聚微滴内捕获和现场处理空间隔离的细菌菌落,用于内源性构建膜结合、分子拥挤且在组成、结构和形态上复杂的合成细胞。产细菌原细胞继承了多种生物成分,展现出多功能的拟细胞特性,并且可以进行内源性重塑,以纳入空间分隔的DNA-组蛋白核样凝聚物、膜化的水液泡和F-肌动蛋白原细胞骨架细丝的三维网络。该整体通过植入的活大肠杆菌细胞产生的ATP提供生化能量,以产生具有变形虫样外部形态和整合的类生命特性的细胞仿生系统。我们的结果展示了一种用于自下而上构建功能性原生微器件的产细菌策略,并为制造新的合成细胞模块以及增强型活细胞/合成细胞构建体提供了机会,这些构建体在工程合成生物学和生物技术中具有潜在应用。
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