Spontaneous Membranization in a Silk-Based Coacervate Protocell Model.

ABSTRACT: Molecularly crowded coacervate micro-droplets are useful protocell constructs but the absence of a physical membrane limits their application as cytomimetic models. Auxiliary surface-active agents have been harnessed to stabilize the coacervate droplets by irreversible shell formation but endogenous processes of reversible membranization have received minimal attention. Herein, we describe a dynamic alginate/silk coacervate-based protocell model in which membrane-less droplets are reversibly reconfigured and inflated into semipermeable coacervate vesicles by spontaneous self-organization of amphiphilic silk polymers at the droplet surface under non-neutral charge conditions in the absence of auxiliary agents. We show that membranization can be reversibly controlled endogenously by programm

SUBMITTER: Yin Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9306657 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature