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Response‐Retaliation Behavior in Synthetic Protocell Communities
Author(s) -
Qiao Yan,
Li Mei,
Qiu Dong,
Mann Stephen
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201909313
Subject(s) - protocell , glucose oxidase , protease , chemistry , coacervate , polysaccharide , biophysics , enzyme , biochemistry , biology , membrane
Two different artificial predation strategies are spatially and temporally coupled to generate a simple tit‐for‐tat mechanism in a ternary protocell network capable of antagonistic enzyme‐mediated interactions. The consortium initially consists of protease‐sensitive glucose‐oxidase‐containing proteinosomes ( 1 ), non‐interacting pH‐sensitive polypeptide/mononucleotide coacervate droplets containing proteinase K ( 2 ), and proteinosome‐adhered pH‐resistant polymer/polysaccharide coacervate droplets ( 3 ). On receiving a glucose signal, secretion of protons from 1 triggers the disassembly of 2 and the released protease is transferred to 3 to initiate a delayed contact‐dependent killing of the proteinosomes and cessation of glucose oxidase activity. Our results provide a step towards complex mesoscale dynamics based on programmable response‐retaliation behavior in artificial protocell consortia.