Single Protein-Mediated Vesicle Division

Publications

Recent research news on Artificial Biology

The successful reconstitution of Drs2p–Cdc50p flippase in small and giant polymer lipid hybrid vesicles is illustrated. The hybrid vesicles show adenosine 5′-triphosphate consumption and flipping of 2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-l-serine lipids from the inner to the outer leaflet. This induced transmembrane asymmetry results in constriction and division of the giant hybrid vesicles.

4 September 2025 by Emilia Djomina Hansen

A collaborative study between the Lyons and Stadler labs, published in Advanced Materials, reports the successful reconstitution of the Drs2p–Cdc50p lipid flippase in polymer–lipid hybrid vesicles, enabling active translocation of negatively charged lipids to establish transmembrane asymmetry. Crucially, the chemical nature of the hydrophobic block in the amphiphilic block copolymers determines the curvature changes that drive vesicle constriction and division. This work marks an important step toward constructing synthetic systems capable of protein-mediated division, advancing the goal of bottom-up self-replicating assemblies.

Read the article published in Advanced Marterials here.

Contact information:
Professor Brigitte Maria Städler
Aarhus University
Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO)
Email: bstadler@inano.au.dk

Tenure track Assistant Professor Joseph Lyons
Aarhus University
Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO)
Email: lyons@inano.au.dk

Recent publications by network

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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).