A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä
Light-fuelled growth dynamics and structural transition of synthetic protocells
Tekijät: Shi, Ke; Song, Peiyong; Li, Jianwei; Qiao, Yan; Lin, Yiyang
Kustantaja: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Kustannuspaikka: LONDON
Julkaisuvuosi: 2025
Journal: Nature Synthesis
Tietokannassa oleva lehden nimi: Nature Synthesis
Lehden akronyymi: NAT SYNTH
Sivujen määrä: 13
eISSN: 2731-0582
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-025-00844-1
Verkko-osoite: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-025-00844-1
A hallmark of life is its capacity to grow and make changes in response to specific conditions, which drives adaptation and variation within populations. Replicating this ability in artificial systems marks a significant milestone in creating lifelike behaviours and probing the origin of life. Here we present an adaptive supramolecular system that exhibited complex growth and phase behaviours driven by the interplay between external environmental factors (light input) and intrinsic chemical activity. This process is powered by light-activated bond scission of strained cyclic disulfides in monomers, followed by the formation of diverse oligomers with linear disulfide linkages. Through self-organization, the information of chemical reactions is translated into protocellular growth and structural transition by coupling supramolecular aggregation and liquid-liquid phase separation. Our findings highlight the emergence of chemical complexity and the formation of cell-like structures from simple molecular systems, offering insights into the mechanisms of self-organization and compartmentalization, which are crucial to understanding the origin of life.
Julkaisussa olevat rahoitustiedot:
We thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (number 22172007 to Y.L. and number T2425001 to Y.Q.), the Science Fund for Creative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (number 52221006 to Y.L.), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (number XDB0480000 to Y.Q.) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (number buctrc202015 to Y.L.) for financial support.
