MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, P. R. China.
Small Methods. 2023 Dec;7(12):e2201712. doi: 10.1002/smtd.202201712. Epub 2023 Apr 17.
In the extant lifeforms, the self-sustaining behaviors refer to various well-organized biochemical reactions in spatial confinement, which rely on compartmentalization to integrate and coordinate the molecularly crowded intracellular environment and complicated reaction networks in living/synthetic cells. Therefore, the biological phenomenon of compartmentalization has become an essential theme in the field of synthetic cell engineering. Recent progress in the state-of-the-art of synthetic cells has indicated that multi-compartmentalized synthetic cells should be developed to obtain more advanced structures and functions. Herein, two ways of developing multi-compartmentalized hierarchical systems, namely interior compartmentalization of synthetic cells (organelles) and integration of synthetic cell communities (synthetic tissues), are summarized. Examples are provided for different construction strategies employed in the above-mentioned engineering ways, including spontaneous compartmentalization in vesicles, host-guest nesting, phase separation mediated multiphase, adhesion-mediated assembly, programmed arrays, and 3D printing. Apart from exhibiting advanced structures and functions, synthetic cells are also applied as biomimetic materials. Finally, key challenges and future directions regarding the development of multi-compartmentalized hierarchical systems are summarized; these are expected to lay the foundation for the creation of a "living" synthetic cell as well as provide a larger platform for developing new biomimetic materials in the future.
在现存的生命形式中，自我维持的行为是指在空间限制内进行的各种组织良好的生化反应，这些反应依赖于分隔，以整合和协调活/合成细胞内分子拥挤的细胞内环境和复杂的反应网络。因此，分隔的生物学现象已成为合成细胞工程领域的一个重要主题。最近在合成细胞的最新进展表明，应该开发多隔间的合成细胞，以获得更先进的结构和功能。本文总结了两种开发多隔间分层系统的方法，即合成细胞（细胞器）的内部分隔和合成细胞群落（合成组织）的集成。为上述工程方法中采用的不同构建策略提供了示例，包括囊泡中的自发分隔、主体-客体嵌套、相分离介导的多相、粘附介导的组装、程控排列和 3D 打印。除了表现出先进的结构和功能外，合成细胞还可用作仿生材料。最后，总结了开发多隔间分层系统的关键挑战和未来方向；这有望为创建“活”合成细胞奠定基础，并为未来开发新型仿生材料提供更大的平台。
