Biomimicry of Cellular Motility and Communication Based on Synthetic Soft-Architectures Citation for published version (APA): Wang, L., Song, S., van Hest, J., Abdelmohsen, L. K. E. A., Huang, X., & Sánchez, S. (2020). Biomimicry of Cellular Motility and Communication Based on Synthetic Soft-Architectures. Small, 16(27), [1907680]. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201907680 Document license: TAVERNE DOI: 10.1002/smll.201907680 Document status and date: Published: 01/07/2020 Document Version: Publisher’s PDF, also known as Version of Record (includes final page, issue and volume numbers) Please check the document version of this publication: • A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. 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If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license above, please follow below link for the End User Agreement: www.tue.nl/taverne Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at: [email protected] providing details and we will investigate your claim. Download date: 06. Oct. 2021 REVIEW www.small-journal.com Biomimicry of Cellular Motility and Communication Based on Synthetic Soft-Architectures Lei Wang, Shidong Song, Jan van Hest, Loai K. E. A. Abdelmohsen,* Xin Huang,* and Samuel Sánchez* 1. Introduction Cells, sophisticated membrane-bound units that contain the fundamental molecules of life, provide a precious library for inspiration and motivation In nature, cells are sophisticated mem- for both society and academia. Scientists from various disciplines have brane-bound units that contain the fun- made great endeavors toward the understanding of the cellular evolution by damental molecules of life, possessing various functions to keep organisms engineering artificial counterparts (protocells) that mimic or initiate struc- alive.[1] Research in the area of synthetic tural or functional cellular aspects. In this regard, several works have dis- cells (or protocell models) has recently cussed possible building blocks, designs, functions, or dynamics that can increased its activities to shed light on be applied to achieve this goal. Although great progress has been made, prebiotic forms of early life, especially fundamental—yet complex—behaviors such as cellular communication, toward understanding the structure, func- [2] responsiveness to environmental cues, and motility remain a challenge, yet tion and their evolution process. Even though understanding the process of to be resolved. Herein, recent efforts toward utilizing soft systems for cel- cell evolution is a challenging and con- lular mimicry are summarized—following the main outline of cellular evolu- ceptive goal, yet the reliable design and tion, from basic compartmentalization, and biological reactions for energy engineering of synthetic cells is the first production, to motility and communicative behaviors between artificial cell step toward that direction. Therefore, communities or between artificial and natural cell communities. Finally, some representative synthetic cell models have been created based on liposomes,[3] the current challenges and future perspectives in the field are discussed, polymersomes,[4] proteinosomes,[5] cap- hoping to inspire more future research and to help the further advancement sosomes,[6] dendrimersomes,[7] or colloi- of this field. dosomes,[8] among others. Besides structure, cells possess multifunctionality in order to exist or even thrive on Earth, such as compartmentalization, growth Dr. L. Wang, Prof. X. Huang and division. However, this is not enough; as cells should also MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy be able to adjust themselves to various harsh environments by Conversion and Storage signal sensing, cellular information processing, subsequently School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering adaptive changes and communicating with other cells, which Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) would be the basic evolution requirements for survival. Toward Harbin 150001, China E-mail: [email protected] fully understanding of these cellular characteristics, many Dr. L. Wang, Prof. S. Sánchez efforts have been devoted in this field with fast developments. Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) Although several reviews have discussed the fundamentals, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) designs, functions or dynamics, respectively,[4,10–14] there is Baldiri i Reixac 10-12, Barcelona 08028, Spain not any that discusses the tactic or communicative behaviors E-mail: [email protected] of protocell models. Therefore, it is timely to summarize the Sd. Song, Prof. J. v. Hest, Dr. L. K. E. A. Abdelmohsen Department of Biomedical Engineering & Department of Chemical current progress in this field, and to present the existing chal- Engineering and Chemistry lenges in cellular mimicry toward the next step for smart artifi- Institute for Complex Molecular Systems cial biosystems. Eindhoven University of Technology Herein, we have summarized the representative works P.O. Box 513, Eindhoven MB 5600, The Netherlands using soft systems for cellular mimicry in the past few years, E-mail: [email protected] following the main outline of cellular evolution, from basic Prof. S. Sánchez Institucio Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avancats (ICREA) compartmentalization, and biological reactions for energy pro- Pg. Lluis Companys 23, Barcelona 08010, Spain duction, to motility behavior and communicative behaviors The ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article between artificial cell communities or between artificial and can be found under https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201907680. natural cell communities. Finally, we discuss the current chal- lenges and future perspectives in the field, hoping to inspire DOI: 10.1002/smll.201907680 more future research. Small 2020, 16, 1907680 1907680 (1 of 19) © 2020 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim www.advancedsciencenews.com www.small-journal.com 2. Biomimetic Soft Systems Loai K. E. A. Abdelmohsen Inspired by nature, researchers aim to create complex, multi- is Assistant Professor in the functional systems that are able to show life-like behaviors. Department of Chemical Indeed, research toward protocellular systems is gaining Engineering and Chemistry increased attention. One significant feature in natural systems at Eindhoven University of is compartmentalization, which is an essential element of all Technology (TU/e) in the living systems—it allows complex reactions to occur with high Netherlands. Loai conducted efficiency while providing stabilizing and spatially ordered his Ph.D. in the Bio-Organic micro and/or nano environments for diverse (complex) enzy- Chemistry group at Radboud matic networks. Membrane-bound biological systems (e.g., University (the Netherlands). mitochondria, endosomes, or the nucleus) are examples of this During his Ph.D. he gained compartmentalization strategy. The membranes confine, for an active interest in the utili- example, functional enzymes and genetic information, while zation of copolymers for supramolecular assembly and the facilitating and controlling molecular transport between dif- subsequent integration of functional properties—such as ferent organelles. Engineering synthetic replicas of the biolog- motility. In 2017, he was appointed as Assistant Professor ical systems has attracted the attention of many research groups at TU/e—leading a team of Ph.D. students and Postdocs. across the globe. The demonstration of life-like behaviors based His research is focused on translating life-like behaviors on artificial compartments while mimicking intricate structural toward synthetic functional polymeric structures. features of biological systems is still a challenging task. In gen- eral, biological compartments are soft, allow selective exchange Xin Huang received his of small molecules, and are able to undertake various reactions Ph.D. from Jilin University, without unwanted cross-talks. Bearing this feature in mind, China, in 2009. Then he in this section we will highlight the recent advances in devel- joined Centre for Advanced oping soft synthetic compartments, ranging from liposomes, Macromolecular Design proteinosomes, coacervates, and polymersomes to capsosomes, (UNSW, Australia) as a post- as is shown in Figure 1. Moreover, the advantages