Fusing Artificial Cell Compartments and Lipid Domains Using Optical Traps: A Tool to Modulate Membrane Composition and Phase Behaviour

Micromachines

Yuval Elani¹  Guido Bolognesi²  Adithya Vivek³ 

[1] Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK;Department of Chemical Engineering, Loughborough University, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK;Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, London W12 0BZ, UK;

关键词: optical traps;    vesicles;    artificial cells;    membrane biophysics;    phase separation;    membranes;   

DOI  :  10.3390/mi11040388

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

New technologies for manipulating biomembranes have vast potential to aid the understanding of biological phenomena, and as tools to sculpt novel artificial cell architectures for synthetic biology. The manipulation and fusion of vesicles using optical traps is amongst the most promising due to the level of spatiotemporal control it affords. Herein, we conduct a suite of feasibility studies to show the potential of optical trapping technologies to (i) modulate the lipid composition of a vesicle by delivering new membrane material through fusion events and (ii) manipulate and controllably fuse coexisting membrane domains for the first time. We also outline some noteworthy morphologies and transitions that the vesicle undergoes during fusion, which gives us insight into the mechanisms at play. These results will guide future exploitation of laser-assisted membrane manipulation methods and feed into a technology roadmap for this emerging technology.

【 授权许可】

Unknown