Towards Artificial Cells: Engineering Encapsulated Molecular Signaling with Intelligent DNA Nanomachines

Abstract

The building and engineering of an artificial molecular signaling system in encapsulated vesicles is a key step towards artificial cells. Recently, Tan et al. reached a new milestone by integrating an intelligent DNA nanogatekeeper with an artificial vesicle system. The DNA nanogatekeeper driven by adenosine triphosphate(ATP) is able to receive outside stimulus, which in turn switches the diffusion of environmental ions into the integrated vesicle. Most importantly, this system enables triggering downstream signaling cascaded reactions confined in the artificial vesicle, as well as returning feedback to the DNA nanogatekeeper, mimicking real cellular behaviors of reception, transduction and response. This work has been published online in Nature Communications on February 20, 2020.

References

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[3] Peng R, Xu L, Wang H, Lyu Y, Wang D, Bi C, Cui C, Fan C, Liu Q, Zhang X, Tan W. Nature Communications, 2020, 11: 978.