Actin Polymerizing Motors to Assist Cytoskeleton-like Networks Formation in Artificial Cells

Area of Science:

• Synthetic biology
• Active matter physics
• Biomimetic systems

Background:

• Biological cells utilize cytoskeletal networks for shape, movement, and mechanical force generation.
• Artificial cells aim to mimic cellular functions, with prior work focusing on stochastic self-assembly of biomolecules.
• Cytoskeleton rearrangement enables artificial cells to sense and adapt to environmental changes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To engineer artificial cells with enhanced motility and structural organization.
• To investigate the use of actin polymerizing nanomotors for cytoskeleton formation within artificial cells.
• To integrate bottom-up synthetic biology with active matter principles for life-like system design.

Main Methods:

• Coating polystyrene particles with actin-recruiting proteins to enable actin filament polymerization in cell lysate.
• Utilizing actin nanomotors inspired by the motion mechanism of *Listeria monocytogenes*.
• Encapsulating nanomotors within hybrid vesicles (amphiphilic block copolymers and phospholipids) to form cytoskeleton-like networks.

Main Results:

• Actin filament polymerization significantly increased nanomotor propulsion by up to 3-fold compared to Brownian motion.
• Encapsulated nanomotors successfully assembled into cytoskeleton-like networks within artificial cells.
• Demonstrated a synergistic integration of synthetic biology components and active matter principles.

Conclusions:

• Actin polymerizing nanomotors can effectively drive cytoskeleton formation in artificial cells.
• This approach enhances the motility and structural complexity of synthetic cell models.
• The study advances the design of life-like systems through the convergence of synthetic biology and active matter.