Issue 12, 2020

Self-division of giant vesicles driven by an internal enzymatic reaction

Abstract

Self-division is one of the most common phenomena in living systems and one of the most important properties of life driven by internal mechanisms of cells. Design and engineering of synthetic cells from abiotic components can recreate a life-like function thus contributing to the understanding of the origin of life. Existing methods to induce the self-division of vesicles require external and non-autonomous triggers (temperature change and the addition of membrane precursors). Here we show that pH-responsive giant unilamellar vesicles on the micrometer scale can undergo self-division triggered by an internal autonomous chemical stimulus driven by an enzymatic (urea–urease) reaction coupled to a cross-membrane transport of the substrate, urea. The bilayer of the artificial cells is composed of a mixture of phospholipids (POPC, 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine) and oleic acid molecules. The enzymatic reaction increases the pH in the lumen of the vesicles, which concomitantly changes the protonation state of the oleic acid in the inner leaflet of the bilayer causing the removal of the membrane building blocks into the lumen of the vesicles thus decreasing the inner membrane area with respect to the outer one. This process coupled to the osmotic stress (responsible for the volume loss of the vesicles) leads to the division of a mother vesicle into two smaller daughter vesicles. These two processes must act in synergy; none of them alone can induce the division. Overall, our self-dividing system represents a step forward in the design and engineering of a complex autonomous model of synthetic cells.

Graphical abstract: Self-division of giant vesicles driven by an internal enzymatic reaction

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
14 oct. 2019
Accepted
08 janv. 2020
First published
04 mars 2020
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 3228-3235

Self-division of giant vesicles driven by an internal enzymatic reaction

Y. Miele, Z. Medveczky, G. Holló, B. Tegze, I. Derényi, Z. Hórvölgyi, E. Altamura, I. Lagzi and F. Rossi, Chem. Sci., 2020, 11, 3228 DOI: 10.1039/C9SC05195C

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