Biosynthesis within a bubble architecture

Abstract

Sub-cellular compartmentalization is critical to life; it minimizes diffusion effects andenables locally high concentrations of biochemicals for improved reaction kinetics.We demonstrate an example of in vitro biochemical synthesis inside the waterchannels of foam using engineered artificial organelles (bacteriorhodopsin andF0F1-ATP synthase reconstituted polymer vesicles) as functional units to produce ATP. Theseresults show that the interstitial space of bubbles serves as a metaphor for sub-cellularstructure, providing a new platform for both investigating cellular metabolism and theengineering of biofunctional materials and systems.