Issue 38, 2022

DNA-assisted selective electrofusion (DASE) of Escherichia coli and giant lipid vesicles

Abstract

Synthetic biology and cellular engineering require chemical and physical alterations, which are typically achieved by fusing target cells with each other or with payload-carrying vectors. On one hand, electrofusion can efficiently induce the merging of biological cells and/or synthetic analogues via the application of intense DC pulses, but it lacks selectivity and often leads to uncontrolled fusion. On the other hand, synthetic DNA-based constructs, inspired by natural fusogenic proteins, have been shown to induce a selective fusion between membranes, albeit with low efficiency. Here we introduce DNA-assisted selective electrofusion (DASE) which relies on membrane-anchored DNA constructs to bring together the objects one seeks to merge, and applying an electric impulse to trigger their fusion. The DASE process combines the efficiency of standard electrofusion and the selectivity of fusogenic nanostructures, as we demonstrate by inducing and characterizing the fusion of spheroplasts derived from Escherichia coli bacteria with cargo-carrying giant lipid vesicles.

Graphical abstract: DNA-assisted selective electrofusion (DASE) of Escherichia coli and giant lipid vesicles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
06 Jūn. 2022
Accepted
24 Aug. 2022
First published
24 Aug. 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Nanoscale, 2022,14, 14255-14267

DNA-assisted selective electrofusion (DASE) of Escherichia coli and giant lipid vesicles

S. Takamori, P. Cicuta, S. Takeuchi and L. Di Michele, Nanoscale, 2022, 14, 14255 DOI: 10.1039/D2NR03105A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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