Building programmable multicompartment artificial cells incorporating remotely activated protein channels using microfluidics and acoustic levitation

Li, Jin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4672-6806, Jamieson, William D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8260-5211, Dimitriou, Pantelitsa, Xu, Wen, Rohde, Paul, Martinac, Boris, Baker, Matthew, Drinkwater, Bruce W., Castell, Oliver K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6059-8062 and Barrow, David A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2096-7262 2022. Building programmable multicompartment artificial cells incorporating remotely activated protein channels using microfluidics and acoustic levitation. Nature Communications 13 (1) , 4125. 10.1038/s41467-022-31898-w

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Abstract

Abstract: Intracellular compartments are functional units that support the metabolism within living cells, through spatiotemporal regulation of chemical reactions and biological processes. Consequently, as a step forward in the bottom-up creation of artificial cells, building analogous intracellular architectures is essential for the expansion of cell-mimicking functionality. Herein, we report the development of a droplet laboratory platform to engineer complex emulsion-based, multicompartment artificial cells, using microfluidics and acoustic levitation. Such levitated models provide free-standing, dynamic, definable droplet networks for the compartmentalisation of chemical species. Equally, they can be remotely operated with pneumatic, heating, and magnetic elements for post-processing, including the incorporation of membrane proteins; alpha-hemolysin; and mechanosensitive channel of large-conductance. The assembly of droplet networks is three-dimensionally patterned with fluidic input configurations determining droplet contents and connectivity, whilst acoustic manipulation can be harnessed to reconfigure the droplet network in situ. The mechanosensitive channel can be repeatedly activated and deactivated in the levitated artificial cell by the application of acoustic and magnetic fields to modulate membrane tension on demand. This offers possibilities beyond one-time chemically mediated activation to provide repeated, non-contact, control of membrane protein function. Collectively, this expands our growing capability to program and operate increasingly sophisticated artificial cells as life-like materials.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Engineering Pharmacy
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Type: open-access
Publisher:	Nature Research
Funders:	EU H2020 ACDC G.A. n° 82406
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	18 July 2022
Date of Acceptance:	6 July 2022
Last Modified:	11 Oct 2023 21:20
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/151342

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