Dendritic Membranized Coacervate Microdroplets: A Robust Platform for Synthetic-Living Cell Consortia.

ABSTRACT: Bottom-up synthetic biology seeks to construct artificial cells with biomimetic or novel functionalities to uncover the fundamental principles of cellular evolution and drive advances in medicine and bioengineering. Among them, membranized coacervate microdroplets (MCM) uniquely combine a molecularly crowded aqueous interior with a surrounding membrane, both hallmarks of eukaryotic cells. Replicating cellular functions requires synthetic cells to remain structurally stable in biological environments, where ionic strength presents a significant threat to the integrity of complex coacervates. By leveraging the globular and rigid architecture of dendrimers, MCM, composed of oppositely charged small dendrimers and polypeptides─further stabilized by a charged PEG-dendritic copolymer assembled a

SUBMITTER: Jimenez-Lopez C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12356591 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature