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Recent research news on Artificial Biology

Distinct Network Morphologies from In Situ Polymerization of Microtubules in Giant Polymer-Lipid Hybrid Vesicles

Creating artificial cells with a dynamic cytoskeleton, akin to those in living cells, is a major goal in bottom-up synthetic biology. In this study, we demonstrate the in situ polymerization of microtubules encapsulated in giant polymer-lipid hybrid vesicles (GHVs) composed of 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and an amphiphilic block copolymer. The block copolymer is comprised of poly(cholesteryl methacrylate-co-butyl methacrylate) as the hydrophobic block and either poly(6-O-methacryloyl-D-galactopyranose) or poly(carboxyethyl acrylate) as the hydrophilic extension. Depending on the concentrations of guanosine triphosphate (GTP) or its slowly hydrolyzable analog, guanosine-5′-[(α,β)-methyleno]triphosphate (GMPCPP), different microtubule morphologies are observed, including encapsulated microtubule networks, spike protrusions, as well as membrane-associated or aggregated microtubules. Overall, this work represents a step forward in mimicking the cellular cytoskeletons and uncovering the influence of membrane composition on microtubule morphologies.

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Beyschau Andersen, C., Yagi, H., Manno, M., Martorana, V., Ban, T., Christiansen, G., Otzen, D., Goto, Y. & Rischel, C. (2009). Branching in amyloid fibril growth. Biophysical Journal, 96(4), 1529-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2008.11.024

Simonsen, M., Mailund, T. & Pedersen, C. S. (2009). Building very large neighbour-joining trees. Poster session presented at 17th Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) & 8th European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB), Stockholm, Sweden.

Hartmann, H., Lakner, U., Andersen, M. Ø., Kjems, J., Howard, K. A. & Schloßhauer, B. (2009). Carrier Matrix for siRNA-Mediated Gene Knock Down to Promote Neuronal Regeneration. Tissue Engineering. Part A. Tissue Engineering, (3), 718.

Xie, J., Xue, Q. Z., Yan, K. Y., Chen, H. J., Xia, D. & Dong, M. D. (2009). Chemical Modification: an Effective Way of Avoiding the Collapse of SWNTs on Al Surface Revealed by Molecular Dynamics Simulations. Journal of Physical Chemistry Part C: Nanomaterials and Interfaces, 113(33).