Artificial morphogen-mediated differentiation in synthetic protocells.

ABSTRACT: The design and assembly of artificial protocell consortia displaying dynamical behaviours and systems-based properties are emerging challenges in bottom-up synthetic biology. Cellular processes such as morphogenesis and differentiation rely in part on reaction-diffusion gradients, and the ability to mimic rudimentary aspects of these non-equilibrium processes in communities of artificial cells could provide a step to life-like systems capable of complex spatiotemporal transformations. Here we expose acoustically formed arrays of initially identical coacervate micro-droplets to uni-directional or counter-directional reaction-diffusion gradients of artificial morphogens to induce morphological differentiation and spatial patterning in single populations of model protocells. Dynamic reconfigu

SUBMITTER: Tian L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6658542 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature