Photoswitchable gating of non-equilibrium enzymatic feedback in chemically communicating polymersome nanoreactors.

ABSTRACT: The circadian rhythm generates out-of-equilibrium metabolite oscillations that are controlled by feedback loops under light/dark cycles. Here we describe a non-equilibrium nanosystem comprising a binary population of enzyme-containing polymersomes capable of light-gated chemical communication, controllable feedback and coupling to macroscopic oscillations. The populations consist of esterase-containing polymersomes functionalized with photo-responsive donor-acceptor Stenhouse adducts (DASA) and light-insensitive semipermeable urease-loaded polymersomes. The DASA-polymersome membrane becomes permeable under green light, switching on esterase activity and decreasing the pH, which in turn initiates the production of alkali in the urease-containing population. A pH-sensitive pigment that absor

SUBMITTER: Rifaie-Graham O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9836937 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature