A self-organized synthetic morphogenic liposome responds with shape changes to local light cues

• Published in: Nature communications 2021-03, Vol.12 (1), p.1548-1548, Article 1548
• Main Authors: Gavriljuk, Konstantin, Scocozza, Bruno, Ghasemalizadeh, Farid, Seidel, Hans, Nandan, Akhilesh P., Campos-Medina, Manuel, Schmick, Malte, Koseska, Aneta, Bastiaens, Philippe I. H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 14/19; 14/63; 631/45/56; 631/553/2393; 631/553/552; 631/57/2270; 82/83; 96/10; 96/95; Artificial Cells; ATP; Biomimetics; Biophysical Phenomena; Cell Surface Extensions - physiology; Centrosome; Chemical potential; Cues; Cytoskeleton; Cytoskeleton - metabolism; Data processing; Deformation; Encapsulation; Filaments; Guanine nucleotide-binding protein; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Information processing; Intracellular signalling; Liposomes; Liposomes - chemistry; Membranes; Microtubules - metabolism; Morphogenesis; Morphogenesis - physiology; Morphology; multidisciplinary; Principles; Recombinant Proteins; rho GTP-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Signal Transduction; Signalling systems; Stathmin - metabolism; Synthetic Biology; Tubulin; Tubulin - metabolism
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21679-2

Reconstituting artificial proto-cells capable of transducing extracellular signals into cytoskeletal changes can reveal fundamental principles of how non-equilibrium phenomena in cellular signal transduction affect morphogenesis. Here, we generated a Synthetic Morphogenic Membrane System (SynMMS) by encapsulating a dynamic microtubule (MT) aster and a light-inducible signaling system driven by GTP/ATP chemical potential into cell-sized liposomes. Responding to light cues in analogy to morphogens, this biomimetic design embodies basic principles of localized Rho-GTPase signal transduction that generate an intracellular MT-regulator signaling gradient. Light-induced signaling promotes membrane-deforming growth of MT-filaments by dynamically elevating the membrane-proximal tubulin concentration. The resulting membrane deformations enable recursive coupling of the MT-aster with the signaling system, which generates global self-organized morphologies that reorganize towards local external cues in dependence on prior shape. SynMMS thereby signifies a step towards bio-inspired engineering of self-organized cellular morphogenesis. The authors generated a Synthetic Morphogenic Membrane System by encapsulating a dynamic microtubule aster and a light-inducible signaling system driven by GTP/ATP chemical potential into cell-sized liposomes. This reconstitution of artificial proto-cells reveals how non-equilibrium phenomena affect cellular information processing in morphogenesis.