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Coupled Metabolic Cycles Allow Out‐of‐Equilibrium Autopoietic Vesicle Replication
Author(s) -
Engwerda Anthonius H. J.,
Southworth Josh,
Lebedeva Maria A.,
Scanes Robert J. H.,
Kukura Philipp,
Fletcher Stephen P.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.202007302
Subject(s) - vesicle , autocatalysis , micelle , pulmonary surfactant , chemistry , catalysis , catalytic cycle , kinetics , monomer , thermodynamic equilibrium , biophysics , chemical physics , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , materials science , thermodynamics , membrane , organic chemistry , physics , biology , biochemistry , aqueous solution , polymer , quantum mechanics , engineering
We report chemically fuelled out‐of‐equilibrium self‐replicating vesicles based on surfactant formation. We studied the vesicles’ autocatalytic formation using UPLC to determine monomer concentration and interferometric scattering microscopy at the nanoparticle level. Unlike related reports of chemically fuelled self‐replicating micelles, our vesicular system was too stable to surfactant degradation to be maintained out of equilibrium. The introduction of a catalyst, which introduces a second catalytic cycle into the metabolic network, was used to close the first cycle. This shows how coupled catalytic cycles can create a metabolic network that allows the creation and perseverance of fuel‐driven, out‐of‐equilibrium self‐replicating vesicles.