Autonomous oscillatory movement of sensory protocells in stratified chemical media

Spatiotemporal control of micro- and macro-scale motion in response to chemical gradients is a hallmark of living systems. Minimal representations of such features of living cells in the form of artificial cells are being fabricated to harness them for use in medicine, biotechnology, and industry. Here, we use enzyme-powered peptide/polynucleotide protocells with the ability to adapt their movement in response to diffusing substrate fronts and shuttle compartmentalized cargo across niches, thereby effectively capturing the adaptive motility feature of living systems. Such designs of adaptive locomotion would have direct implications for the development of soft microbots by offering new strategies for motility and its regulation, which are crucial in tackling several challenges in health and environmental remediation where there is a need for the deployment of microscopic agents capable of transiting between different niches and executing specific tasks in particular environments.