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Updated: Jul 1, 2026

In Vitro Reconstitution of the Actin Cytoskeleton Inside Giant Unilamellar Vesicles
Published on: August 25, 2022
Morphogenesis of liposomes caused by polycation-induced actin assembly formation
Haruka Maemichi1, Kazuhiro Shikinaka, Akira Kakugo
1Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan.
Abstract:
We investigated the effects of polycation-mediated actin assembly on the morphological transformation of the lipid vesicle membrane by spatiotemporally controlling actin assembly. By triggering the radical polymerization of the cationic monomer using UV irradiation, we achieved a varied photoinduced assembly of actin in bulk solution. Furthermore, we designed liposomes containing actin and cationic monomers. In these actin-encapsulated liposomes, various actin assemblies were formed by UV irradiation similar to that observed in bulk solution. Moreover, morphogenesis of actin-encapsulated liposomes was observed in liposomes encapsulated with G-actin but not with F-actin. This result indicates that a dynamic polymerization of G-actin is important for vesicle protrusion.
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