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Updated: Mar 2, 2026

Folding and Characterization of a Bio-responsive Robot from DNA Origami

Folding and Characterization of a Bio-responsive Robot from DNA Origami

Published on: December 3, 2015

Cell-sized mechanosensitive and biosensing compartment programmed with DNA.

Sagardip Majumder¹, Jonathan Garamella, Ying-Lin Wang

¹Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. allenliu@umich.edu.

Chemical Communications (Cambridge, England)

|May 20, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers created cell-sized compartments that can sense their environment. These DNA-programmed liposomes use E. coli MscL channels and biosensors for mechanosensing and chemical detection in synthetic cell engineering.

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Published on: October 8, 2021

Area of Science:

Synthetic biology
Biophysics
Biochemistry

Background:

Bottom-up construction of cell-sized compartments for synthetic cell engineering is complex.
Programming DNA-based functions into artificial cells for environmental sensing is a key challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop mechanosensitive liposomes with integrated biosensing capabilities.
To engineer cell-sized compartments capable of detecting both physical and chemical stimuli.

Main Methods:

Utilized cell-free expression systems for protein synthesis.
Incorporated the E. coli mechanosensitive channel MscL into liposome membranes.
Co-expressed a calcium biosensor alongside MscL within the liposomes.

Main Results:

Successfully constructed liposomes exhibiting mechanosensitivity via MscL expression.
Demonstrated the ability of these liposomes to perform biosensing, specifically for calcium.
Established a bottom-up approach for creating functional, cell-sized synthetic compartments.

Conclusions:

This work presents a novel method for building functional synthetic cells.
The engineered liposomes offer a platform for studying mechanobiology and chemical sensing.
Advances synthetic cell engineering by providing a robust model system.