In their latest paper published on Nature Communications, researchers from the Soft and Living Materials group and their collaborators design a protein droplet system that is as active and as concentrated as the cytoplasm.
Living organisms harvest energy from the environment to drive chemical processes that enable life. In this paper, realized in collaboration with researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology and Max Plank Institute, the authors introduce a protein droplets system that is able replicate the activity levels of unicellular organisms through chemical reactions catalyzed by enzymes. At these metabolic densities, the droplets show self-generated pH gradients and internal flows, reminiscent of biological phenomena found in cells and bacteria.
Andrea Testa, Mirco Dindo, Aleksander A. Rebane, Babak Nasouri, Robert W. Style, Ramin Golestanian, Eric R. Dufresne & Paola Laurino. Sustained enzymatic activity and flow in crowded protein droplets. Nat Commun 12, 6293 (2021). DOI:10.1038/s41467-021-26532-0call_made
