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Updated: Nov 2, 2025

In Vitro Reconstitution of Self-Organizing Protein Patterns on Supported Lipid Bilayers
Published on: July 28, 2018
Dissipative self-assembly, competition and inhibition in a self-reproducing protocell model
Elias A J Post1, Stephen P Fletcher1
1Department of Chemistry, Chemistry Research Laboratory, University of Oxford 12 Mansfield Road Oxford OX1 3TA UK stephen.fletcher@chem.ox.ac.uk.
Abstract:
The bottom-up synthesis of artificial, life-like systems promises to enable the study of emergent properties distinctive to life. Here, we report protocell systems generated from phase-separated building blocks. Vesicle protocells self-reproduce through a phase-transfer mechanism, catalysing their own formation. Dissipative self-assembly by the protocells is achieved when a hydrolysis step to destroy the surfactant is introduced. Competition between micelle and vesicle based replicators for a common feedstock shows that environmental conditions can control what species predominates: under basic conditions vesicles predominate, but in a neutral medium micelles are selected for via a mechanism which inhibits vesicle formation. Finally, the protocells enable orthogonal reactivity by catalysing in situ formation of an amphiphilic organocatalyst, which after incorporation into the vesicle bilayer enantioselectively forms a secondary product.
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