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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

The Encapsulation of Cell-free Transcription and Translation Machinery in Vesicles for the Construction of Cellular Mimics
Published on: October 21, 2013
Artificial organelle: ATP synthesis from cellular mimetic polymersomes
Hyo-Jick Choi1, Carlo D Montemagno
1Department of Bioengineering, Room 7523 Boelter Hall, 420 Westwood Plaza, University of California-Los Angeles, PO Box 951600, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1600, USA.
Abstract:
A complex cellular process was reconstructed using a multiprotein polymersome system. ATP has been produced by coupled reactions between bacteriorhodopsin, a light-driven transmembrane proton pump, and F(0)F(1)-ATP synthase motor protein, reconstituted in polymersomes. This indicates that ATP synthase maintained its ATP synthesis and therefore its motor activity in the artificial membranes. This hybrid proteopolymersome will have wide application in a number of fields ranging from the in vitro investigation of cellular metabolism to the synthesis of functional "smart" materials.
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