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Spontaneous Structuration in Coacervate‐Based Protocells by Polyoxometalate‐Mediated Membrane Assembly
Author(s) -
Williams David S.,
Patil Avinash J.,
Mann Stephen
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201303654
Subject(s) - coacervate , vesicle , polyelectrolyte , membrane , protocell , chemistry , aqueous solution , polyoxometalate , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , materials science , biophysics , chromatography , biochemistry , organic chemistry , polymer , biology , engineering , catalysis
Molecularly crowded, polyelectrolyte/ribonucleotide‐enriched membrane‐free coacervate droplets are transformed into membrane‐bounded sub‐divided vesicles by using a polyoxometalate‐mediated surface‐templating procedure. The coacervate to vesicle transition results in reconstruction of the coacervate micro‐droplets into novel three‐tiered micro‐compartments comprising a semi‐permeable negatively charged polyoxometalate/polyelectrolyte outer membrane, a sub‐membrane coacervate shell, and an internal aqueous lumen. We demonstrate that organic dyes, ssDNA, magnetic nanoparticles and enzymes can be concentrated into the interior of the micro‐compartments by sequestration into the coacervate micro‐droplets prior to vesicle formation. The vesicle‐encapsulated proteins are inaccessible to proteases in the external medium, and can be exploited for the spatial localization and coupling of two‐enzyme cascade reactions within single or between multiple populations of hybrid vesicles dispersed in aqueous media.