Microfluidic construction of nucleus-like architecture

Abstract

In eukaryotic cells, genes are compartmentalized in nucleus, and the surface of nucleus is porous and rough. The physiological roles of these physicochemical attributes of nucleus were rarely explored. Herein we propose that the compartmentalization and rough surface of nucleus facilitate the biosynthesis process. We report a microfluidic construction of nucleus-like microgels with controllable roughness and investigate the effects of compartmentalization and roughness of microgels on biosynthesis in a cell-free protein synthesis system. Rough microgels showed higher protein yield and initial expression rate than non-compartmentalization system and smooth microgels; moreover, protein yield increased gradually with the roughness of microgels. Mechanism investigation indicated that rough microgels with higher specific surface area and multi-modal pore-size distribution compressed more genes on the surface and enabled a closer proximity of genes, improving the enzyme turnover rate for efficient biosynthesis. This work provides possible implications to understand why nucleus shows rough surface in cells.