Engineering motile aqueous phase-separated droplets via liposome stabilisation.

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Chemical Engineering
• Cellular Engineering

Background:

• Bottom-up engineering of functional cellular compartments is advancing.
• Motility is a key cellular behavior with significant biotechnological potential.
• Existing droplet motility systems often use oil phases, limiting biological applications due to biocompatibility concerns.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a biocompatible, all-aqueous droplet system for mimicking cellular motility.
• To investigate the chemotactic response of engineered droplets.
• To create a versatile platform for bottom-up biological engineering.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of liposome-stabilized, cell-sized droplets in a polyethylene glycol (PEG)/dextran aqueous system.
• Tuning droplet stability via liposome composition and concentration.
• Demonstration of negative chemotaxis in response to PEG/dextran gradients.

Main Results:

• A stable, biocompatible, all-aqueous Pickering-like emulsion was successfully created.
• The engineered droplets exhibited negative chemotaxis, moving directionally down polymer gradients.
• Droplet stability was tunable by adjusting liposome parameters.

Conclusions:

• The developed PEG/dextran droplet system provides a biocompatible platform for studying motility.
• This system enables bottom-up engineering of compartments with responsive behaviors like negative chemotaxis.
• The findings open new avenues for research in motion-related biological processes and engineered living systems.