Skip to main content

Giant Vesicles as Compartmentalized Bio-reactors: A 3D Modelling Approach

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Advances in Artificial Life, Evolutionary Computation and Systems Chemistry (WIVACE 2015)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 587))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Giant lipid vesicles have been extensively used in recent years as in vitro artificial models for protocells, i.e. primitive cell models or synthetic cell-like systems of minimal complexity. Due to their dimensions in the micrometer range, giant vesicles can be designed as micro-sized enzymatic chemical reactors fed by a flux of substrates from the outside and monitored by confocal light microscopy in order to follow the production of fluorescence compounds. In this paper we present a 3D modelling approach to the simulation of giant vesicle where enzymatic reactions take place, and we apply this approach to a case study of a three-enzymes metabolic pathway.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Monnard, P.-A., Deamer, D.W.: Membrane self-assembly processes: steps toward the first cellular life. Anat. Rec. 268, 196–207 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Luisi, P.L., Ferri, F., Stano, P.: Approaches to semi-synthetic minimal cells: a review. Naturwissenschaften 93, 1–13 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Mansy, S.S., Szostak, J.W.: Reconstructing the emergence of cellular life through the synthesis of model protocells. Cold Spring Harb. Symp. Quant. Biol. 74, 47–54 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Kurihara, K., Okura, Y., Matsuo, M., Toyota, T., Suzuki, K., Sugawara, T.: A recursive vesicle-based model protocell with a primitive model cell cycle. Nat. Commun. 6, 8352 (2015). doi:10.1038/ncomms9352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Yu, W., Sato, K., Wakabayashi, M., Nakaishi, T., Ko-Mitamura, E.P., Shima, Y., Urabe, I., Yomo, T.: Synthesis of functional protein in liposome. J. Biosci. Bioeng. 92, 590–593 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Noireaux, V., Libchaber, A.: A vesicle bioreactor as a step toward an artificial cell assembly. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 101, 17669–17674 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Stano, P., Carrara, P., Kuruma, Y., Souza, T.P., Luisi, P.L.: Compartmentalized reactions as a case of soft-matter biotechnology: Synthesis of proteins and nucleic acids inside lipid vesicles. J. Mater. Chem. 21, 18887–18902 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Nourian, Z., Danelon, C.: Linking genotype and phenotype in protein synthesizing liposomes with external supply of resources. ACS Synth. Biol. 2, 186–193 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Stano, P., D’Aguanno, E., Bolz, J., Fahr, A., Luisi, P.L.: A remarkable self-organization process as the origin of primitive functional cells. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 52, 13397–13400 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Lentini, R., Santero, S.P., Chizzolini, F., Cecchi, D., Fontana, J., Marchioretto, M., del Bianco, C., Terrell, J.L., Spencer, A.C., Martini, L., et al.: Integrating artificial with natural cells to translate chemical messages that direct E. coli behaviour. Nat. Commun. 5, 4012 (2014). doi:10.1038/ncomms5012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Tomasi, R., Noel, J.-M., Zenati, A., Ristori, S., Rossi, F., Cabuil, V., Kanoufi, F., Abou-Hassan, A.: Chemical communication between liposomes encapsulating a chemical oscillatory reaction. Chem. Sci. 5(5), 1854–1859 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Stano, P., Wodlei, F., Carrara, P., Ristori, S., Marchettini, N., Rossi, F.: Approaches to molecular communication between synthetic compartments based on encapsulated chemical oscillators. In: Pizzuti, C., Spezzano, G. (eds.) WIVACE 2014. CCIS, vol. 445, pp. 58–74. Springer, Heidelberg (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Rossi, F., Zenati, A., Ristori, S., Noel, J.-M., Cabuil, V., Kanoufi, F., Abou-Hassan, A.: Activatory coupling among oscillating droplets produced in microfluidic based devices. Int. J. Unconv. Comp. 11(1), 23–36 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Martino, C., Kim, S.-H., Horsfall, L., Abbaspourrad, A., Rosser, S.J., Cooper, J., Weitz, D.A.: Protein expression, aggregation, and triggered release from polymersomes as artificial cell-like structures. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 51, 6416–6420 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Tang, T.-Y.D., van Swaay, D., deMello, A., Anderson, J.L.R., Mann, S.: In vitro gene expression within membrane-free coacervate protocells. Chem. Commun. 51, 11429–11432 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Walde, P., Cosentino, K., Engel, H., Stano, P.: Giant vesicles: preparations and applications. ChemBioChem 11, 848–865 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Mavelli, F., Altamura, E., Cassidei, L., Stano, P.: Recent theoretical approaches to minimal artificial cells. Entropy 16, 2488 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Shirt-Ediss, B., Ruiz-Mirazo, K., Mavelli, F., Sole, R.V.: Modelling lipid competition dynamics in heterogeneous protocell populations. Sci. Rep. 4, 5675 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Mavelli, F., Ruiz-Mirazo, K.: Theoretical conditions for the stationary reproduction of model protocells. Integr. Biol. 5, 324–341 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Mavelli, F.: Stochastic simulations of minimal cells: the Ribocell model. BMC Bioinform. 13(4), S10 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Mavelli, F., Ruiz-Mirazo, K.: ENVIRONMENT: a computational platform to stochastically simulate reacting and self reproducing compartments. Phys. Biol. 3, 36002 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Luisi, P.L., Allegretti, M., Souza, T., Steineger, F., Fahr, A., Stano, P.: Spontaneous protein crowding in liposomes: a new vista for the origin of cellular metabolism. ChemBioChem 11, 1989 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Souza, T.P., Fahr, A., Luisi, P.L., Stano, P.: Spontaneous encapsulation and concentration of biological macromolecules in liposomes: an intriguing phenomenon and its relevance in origins of life. J. Mol. Evol. 79, 179 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Mavelli, F., Stano, P.: Experiments and numerical modelling on the capture and concentration of transcription-translation machinery inside vesicles. Artif. Life 21, 1–19 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Mavelli, F., Rampioni, G., Damiano, L., Messina, M., Leoni, L., Stano, P.: Molecular communication technology: general considerations on the use of synthetic cells and some hints from in silico modeling. In: Pizzuti, C., Spezzano, G. (eds.) WIVACE 2014. CCIS, vol. 445, pp. 169–189. Springer, Heidelberg (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Bienert, G.P., Schjoerring, J.K., Jahn, T.P.: Membrane transport of hydrogen peroxide. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1758, 994–1003 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Robertson, R.N.: The Lively Membranes. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Daniels, F., Alberty, R.A.: Physical Chemistry. Wiley, NewYork (1961)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fabio Mavelli .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Mavelli, F., Altamura, E., Stano, P. (2016). Giant Vesicles as Compartmentalized Bio-reactors: A 3D Modelling Approach. In: Rossi, F., Mavelli, F., Stano, P., Caivano, D. (eds) Advances in Artificial Life, Evolutionary Computation and Systems Chemistry. WIVACE 2015. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 587. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32695-5_17

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32695-5_17

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-32694-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-32695-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics