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Abstract
The development of programmable microscale materials with cell-like functions, dynamics and collective behaviour is an important milestone in systems chemistry, soft matter bioengineering and synthetic protobiology. Here, polymer/nucleotide coacervate micro-droplets are reconfigured into membrane-bounded polyoxometalate coacervate vesicles (PCVs) in the presence of a bio-inspired Ru-based polyoxometalate catalyst to produce synzyme protocells (Ru4PCVs) with catalase-like activity. We exploit the synthetic protocells for the implementation of multi-compartmentalized cell-like models capable of collective synzyme-mediated buoyancy, parallel catalytic processing in individual horseradish peroxidase-containing Ru4PCVs, and chemical signalling in distributed or encapsulated multi-catalytic protocell communities. Our results highlight a new type of catalytic micro-compartment with multi-functional activity and provide a step towards the development of protocell reaction networks.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 41 (2020) |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Nature Communications |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 3 Jan 2020 |
Structured keywords
- BrisSynBio
- Bristol BioDesign Institute
Keywords
- Synthetic biology
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Dive into the research topics of 'Catalytic processing in ruthenium-based polyoxometalate coacervate protocells'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
Profiles
-
Dr Avinash J Patil
- School of Chemistry - Research Fellow
- The Bristol Centre for Nanoscience and Quantum Information
- Soft Matter, Colloids and Materials
Person: Academic , Member