Spatiotemporal control of coacervate formation within liposomes

Siddharth Deshpande, Frank Brandenburg, Anson Lau, Mart G. F. Last, Willem Kasper Spoelstra, Louis Reese, Sreekar Wunnava, Marileen Dogterom and Cees Dekker ()
Additional contact information
Siddharth Deshpande: Delft University of Technology
Frank Brandenburg: Delft University of Technology
Anson Lau: Delft University of Technology
Mart G. F. Last: Delft University of Technology
Willem Kasper Spoelstra: Delft University of Technology
Louis Reese: Delft University of Technology
Sreekar Wunnava: Delft University of Technology
Marileen Dogterom: Delft University of Technology
Cees Dekker: Delft University of Technology

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), especially coacervation, plays a crucial role in cell biology, as it forms numerous membraneless organelles in cells. Coacervates play an indispensable role in regulating intracellular biochemistry, and their dysfunction is associated with several diseases. Understanding of the LLPS dynamics would greatly benefit from controlled in vitro assays that mimic cells. Here, we use a microfluidics-based methodology to form coacervates inside cell-sized (~10 µm) liposomes, allowing control over the dynamics. Protein-pore-mediated permeation of small molecules into liposomes triggers LLPS passively or via active mechanisms like enzymatic polymerization of nucleic acids. We demonstrate sequestration of proteins (FtsZ) and supramolecular assemblies (lipid vesicles), as well as the possibility to host metabolic reactions (β-galactosidase activity) inside coacervates. This coacervate-in-liposome platform provides a versatile tool to understand intracellular phase behavior, and these hybrid systems will allow engineering complex pathways to reconstitute cellular functions and facilitate bottom-up creation of synthetic cells.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09855-x Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-09855-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09855-x

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().