Generation of Chemobrionic Jellyfish‐Like Structures That Mechanically Divide and Exhibit Biomimetic “Symbiosis”

Abstract

Addition of CaCl 2 into a highly alkaline phosphate buffer results in the generation of submerged transparent chemobrionic bubbles mimicking jellyfish that are stable and malleable. A compartmentalized O 2 -generating reaction triggered the growth of regular vertical chemical gardens from the bubble through a gas micro-rocket propelled mechanism. The bubbles can mechanically separate to yield two daughter bubbles in a process reminiscent of cytokinesis or natural jellyfish regeneration, and then re-grow through new injection of CaCl 2 . Finally, loading of E. coli bacteria genetically engineered to exert green fluorescence inside the bubbles was demonstrated in a biomimetic analogue of "symbiosis".

Characteristic growth of chemical gardens from mixtures of two salts

“…15 Recently, chemical gardens have received attention as biomimetic materials due to their ability to form a variety of self-assembled structures, [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] such as silica-rich biomimetic mineral 20 and self-assembled nanostructures. [21][22][23][24][25][26][27] These diverse approaches to chemical gardens and their self-organized structures in physics, chemistry, and biology, nucleated a new research area called "chemobrionics". 1,[21][22][23][24][25][26] In addition, the morphology and composition of the chemical gardens under the different conditions have been studied by various analytical methods and techniques.…”

“…These studies focused on various physicochemical factors [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] including oscillatory growth of hollow microtubes, 12 tube growth with a pinned bubble, 14 and spiral growth of the tube controlled by the application of magnetic force. 15 Recently, chemical gardens have received attention as biomimetic materials due to their ability to form a variety of self-assembled structures, [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] such as silica-rich biomimetic mineral 20 and selfassembled nanostructures. [21][22][23][24][25][26][27] These diverse approaches to chemical gardens and their self-organizing processes in physics, chemistry, and biology nucleated a new research area called ''chemobrionics''.…”

“…[21][22][23][24][25][26][27] These diverse approaches to chemical gardens and their self-organizing processes in physics, chemistry, and biology nucleated a new research area called ''chemobrionics''. 1,[21][22][23][24][25][26] In addition, the morphology and composition of the chemical gardens under different conditions have been studied using various analytical methods and techniques. [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] A few recent studies also investigated chemical gardens consisting of multiple chemical species.…”