Abstract
A minimal synthetic cell should contain a substrate for information storage and have the capability to divide. Notable efforts were made to assemble functional synthetic cells from the bottom up, however often lacking the capability to reproduce. Here, we develop a mechanism to fully control reversible cargo loading and division of DNA-containing giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) with light. We make use of the photosensitizer Chlorin e6 (Ce6) which self-assembles into lipid bilayers and leads to local lipid peroxidation upon illumination. On the time scale of minutes, illumination induces the formation of transient pores, which we exploit for cargo encapsulation or controlled release. In combination with osmosis, complete division of two daughter GUVs can be triggered within seconds of illumination due to a spontaneous curvature increase. We ultimately demonstrate the division of a selected DNA-containing GUV with full spatiotemporal control—proving the relevance of the division mechanism for bottom-up synthetic biology.
Highlights
A minimal synthetic cell should contain a substrate for information storage and have the capability to divide
It has been known for decades that giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) morphologies depend on the surface-to-volume ratio, which can be controlled by osmosis.[14]
A division mechanism which combines several of the following features would be highly desirable for bottomup synthetic biology, but remains hitherto unachieved: 1) GUV division should be compatible with standard lipid mixtures; 2) Division should be stimuli-responsive; 3) Ideally, the division mechanism should be compatible with a loading step, such that the components required for a semiautonomous synthetic cell-cycle can be supplied via a feeding bath prior to division; and 4) On the route toward synthetic cells, it would be important to combine division with information propagation
Summary
Y.D. and K.J. contributed to this work and performed most experiments. M.S. carried out mass spectrometry analysis.
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