A Novel System of Self-Reproducing Giant Vesicles

Takakura, Katsuto; Toyota, Taro; Sugawara, Tadashi

doi:10.1021/ja029379a

Cited by 143 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…198 Recently, also self-reproducing giant vesicles have been reported by Sugawara and coworkers ( Figure 17). 199 The membrane of these aggregates was built from amphiphiles that had an imine group in their hydrophobic part, which is the product of a condensation reaction between an amphiphilic aldehyde and a lipophilic aniline derivative. Addition of the aldehyde precursor to preformed giant vesicles, which contained the aniline precursor and a catalyst, resulted in the formation of new amphiphiles inside the vesicular compartment.…”

Section: Reactions In the Inner Compartment Of Vesiclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self‐Assembled Nanoreactors

et al. 2005

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Section: Reactions In the Inner Compartment Of Vesiclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self‐Assembled Nanoreactors

et al. 2005

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“…In combination with mechanical shear-inducing division (fragmentation), fatty acid vesicles have been shown to undergo growth and division under certain experimental conditions (6,14). Similar uptake of amphiphilic membrane components, followed by the spontaneous birthing of daughter vesicles, has been demonstrated using a set of chemically synthesized molecules (15)(16)(17). The key aspect in these systems is that the amphiphilic membrane components are efficiently incorporated due to their physicochemical natures or via chemical conversion.…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

Coupling of the fusion and budding of giant phospholipid vesicles containing macromolecules

Terasawa

Nishimura

Suzuki

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

160

166

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Mechanisms that enabled primitive cell membranes to self-reproduce have been discussed based on the physicochemical properties of fatty acids; however, there must be a transition to modern cell membranes composed of phospholipids [Budin I, Szostak JW (2011) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108:5249–5254]. Thus, a growth-division mechanism of membranes that does not depend on the chemical nature of amphiphilic molecules must have existed. Here, we show that giant unilamellar vesicles composed of phospholipids can undergo the coupled process of fusion and budding transformation, which mimics cell growth and division. After gaining excess membrane by electrofusion, giant vesicles spontaneously transform into the budded shape only when they contain macromolecules (polymers) inside their aqueous core. This process is a result of the vesicle maximizing the translational entropy of the encapsulated polymers (depletion volume effect). Because the cell is a lipid membrane bag containing highly concentrated biopolymers, this coupling process that is induced by physical and nonspecific interactions may have a general importance in the self-reproduction of the early cellular compartments.

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“…In contrast to the template-based replication, the type of reactions known to drive physical autocatalysis are extremely limited 14 and almost all known examples are driven by hydrolysis-mediated chemical bond cleavage 14 . To the best of our knowledge, the only examples of physical autocatalysis driven by bond-forming processes involve simple N-oxidation of an amine 23 , or imine condensation that is chemically reversible and operates under thermodynamic control 24,25 (Fig. 1).…”

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Physical autocatalysis driven by a bond-forming thiol–ene reaction

2014

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Autocatalysis has been extensively studied because it is central to the propagation of living systems. Chemical systems which self-reproduce like living cells would offer insight into principles underlying biology and its emergence from inanimate matter. Protocellular models feature a surfactant boundary, providing compartmentalization in the form of a micelle or vesicle and any model of the emergence of cellular life must account for the appearance, and evolution of, such boundaries. Here, we describe an autocatalytic system where two relatively simple components combine to form a more complex product. The reaction products aggregate into micelles that catalyse molecular self-reproduction. Study of the reaction kinetics and aggregation behaviour suggests a mechanism involving micelle-mediated physical autocatalysis and led to the rational design of a second-generation system. These reactions are driven by irreversible bond formation and provide a working model for the autocatalytic formation of protocells from the coupling of two simple molecular components.

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A Novel System of Self-Reproducing Giant Vesicles

Cited by 143 publications

References 17 publications

Self‐Assembled Nanoreactors

Self‐Assembled Nanoreactors

Coupling of the fusion and budding of giant phospholipid vesicles containing macromolecules

Physical autocatalysis driven by a bond-forming thiol–ene reaction

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