Self-division of giant vesicles driven by an internal enzymatic reaction

Miele, Ylenia; Medveczky, Zsófia; Holló, Gábor; Tegze, Borbála; Derényi, Imre; Hórvölgyi, Zoltán; Altamura, Emiliano; Lagzi, István; Rossi, Federico

doi:10.1039/c9sc05195c

Cited by 83 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…In a different set of experiments, we investigated the influence of the copolymer on the distribution of the water-soluble fluorescent probe pyranine (structure reported in Figure S14 in the Supporting Information) that was dissolved in the I-solution. This probe is membrane impermeable and in pure POPC vesicles it is firmly confined into the aqueous lumen [85,86] as highlighted in Figure 4 a). However, when the copolymer was present, the pyranine tended to accumulate along the membrane (Figure 4 This behaviour could be attributed to a tendency of pyranine to accumulate in copolymer-rich domains, possibly due to the interaction of its OH moieties with the pH-sensitive units of the DMAEMA group.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hybrid giant lipid vesicles incorporating a PMMA-based copolymer

Miele

Mingotaud

Caruso

et al. 2021

Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - General Subjects

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hybrid giant lipid vesicles incorporating a PMMA-based copolymer

Miele

Mingotaud

Caruso

et al. 2021

Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - General Subjects

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“…One of the most recently developed methods is the “droplet transfer” or “reverse emulsion” [ 26 ], characterized by the stratification of an aqueous phase and a water-in-oil emulsion with the formation of the bilayer at the interface of the two phases. This method permits to easily encapsulate hydrophilic compounds in the aqueous lumen [ 27 , 28 ] and blend hydrophobic species in the membrane, such as fatty acids [ 29 , 30 ] or polymers [ 31 , 32 ]. In this work, the “droplet transfer” method was used for the formation of vesicles of POPC and a ternary mixture of POPC:DPPC:Chol to simulate the two phases Lo and Ld of a membrane.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Flavone-Based Solvatochromic Probe with A Low Expected Perturbation Impact on the Membrane Physical State

et al. 2020

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The study of the cell membrane is an ambitious and arduous objective since its physical state is regulated by a series of processes that guarantee its regular functionality. Among the different methods of analysis, fluorescence spectroscopy is a technique of election, non-invasive, and easy to use. Besides, molecular dynamics analysis (MD) on model membranes provides useful information on the possibility of using a new probe, following its positioning in the membrane, and evaluating the possible perturbation of the double layer. In this work, we report the rational design and the synthesis of a new fluorescent solvatochromic probe and its characterization in model membranes. The probe consists of a fluorescent aromatic nucleus of a 3-hydroxyflavone moiety, provided with a saturated chain of 18 carbon atoms and a zwitterionic head so to facilitate the anchoring to the polar heads of the lipid bilayer and avoid the complete internalization. It was possible to study the behavior of the probe in GUV model membranes by MD analysis and fluorescence microscopy, demonstrating that the new probe can efficiently be incorporated in the lipid bilayer, and give a color response, thanks to is solvatochromic properties. Moreover, MD simulation of the probe in the membrane supports the hypothesis of a reduced perturbation of the membrane physical state.

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“…Growth and division of lipid boundaries [98] and formation of enantiomeric pure vesicles, drastically contributed to the selection processes. Further studies on symmetry breaking of phospholipids in protocell membranes can be carried out using synthetic protocells where the transmission of catalytic protein can be controlled under selection processes upon growth and division experiments [98][99][100][101][102]. The compartmentalization of primitive enzyme-free or enzyme molecular replicators, inside the organelles and/or protocells, was probably one of several strategies that evolution retained for Darwinian selection processes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symmetry Breaking of Phospholipids

Buchet¹,

Fiore²

2020

Preprint

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Either stereo reactants or stereo catalysis from achiral or chiral molecules are prerequisite to obtain pure enantiomeric lipid derivatives. We reviewed a few plausible organic syntheses of phospholipids under prebiotic conditions with a special attention to the starting materials as pro-chiral dihydroxyacetone and dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP), which are the key molecules to break symmetry in phospholipids. The advantages of homochiral membranes compared to those of heterochiral membranes were analysed in term of specific recognition, optimal functions of enzymes, membrane fluidity and topological packing. All biological membranes contain enantiomeric lipids in modern bacteria, eukarya and archaea. The contemporary archaea, comprising of methanogens, halobacteria and thermoacidophiles are living under extreme conditions reminiscent of primitive environment and may indicate the origin of one ancient evolution path of lipid biosynthesis. The analysis of lipid metabolism reveals that all modern cells including archaea synthetize enantiomeric lipid precursors from prochiral DHAP. sn-glycerol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase (G1PDH), usually found in archaea, catalyses the formation of sn-glycerol-1-phosphate (G1P), while sn-glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G3PDH) catalyses the formation of sn-glycerol-3-phosphate (G3P) in bacteria and eukarya. The selective enzymatic activity seems to be the main strategy that evolution retained to obtain enantiomeric pure lipids. The occurrence of two genes encoding for G1PDH and G3PDH, served to build up an evolution tree and the basis of our review focusing on the evolution of these two genes. Gene encoding for G3PDH in Eukarya may originate from G3PDH gene found in rare archaea indicating that archaea appeared earlier in the evolution tree than eukarya. Archaea and bacteria evolved probably separately, due to their distinct respective genes coding for G1PDH and G3PDH. The suggested hypothesis is that catalysis of homochiral G1P or G3P from DHAP are more efficient than those leading to racemic G1P and G3P, since there are no enzymes able to synthesize racemic G1P and G3P from DHAP. We propose that G1PDH or G3DPH, which are not “image mirror enzymes” but belonging to distinct family of proteins, emerged separately during evolution. They were probably selected for their efficient catalytic activities during evolution from large libraries of vesicles containing various biopolymers, including amino acids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, lipids, and meteorite components to induce chemical imbalance.

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Self-division of giant vesicles driven by an internal enzymatic reaction

Cited by 83 publications

References 49 publications

Hybrid giant lipid vesicles incorporating a PMMA-based copolymer

Hybrid giant lipid vesicles incorporating a PMMA-based copolymer

A Flavone-Based Solvatochromic Probe with A Low Expected Perturbation Impact on the Membrane Physical State

Symmetry Breaking of Phospholipids

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