Functional and morphological adaptation in DNA protocells via signal processing prompted by artificial metalloenzymes.

ABSTRACT: For life to emerge, the confinement of catalytic reactions within protocellular environments has been proposed to be a decisive aspect to regulate chemical activity in space¹. Today, cells and organisms adapt to signals^2-6 by processing them through reaction networks that ultimately provide downstream functional responses and structural morphogenesis^7,8. Re-enacting such signal processing in de novo-designed protocells is a profound challenge, but of high importance for understanding the design of adaptive systems with life-like traits. We report on engineered all-DNA protocells⁹ harbouring an artificial metalloenzyme¹⁰ whose olefin metathesis activity leads to downstream morphogenetic protocellular responses with varying levels of com

SUBMITTER: Samanta A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7610402 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature