Self-Assembled Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum-Like Proto-Organelles

Qingchuan Li; Xiaojun Han

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2018.09.020

Self-Assembled Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum-Like Proto-Organelles

iScience. 2018 Oct 26:8:138-147. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2018.09.020. Epub 2018 Sep 27.

Authors

Qingchuan Li¹, Xiaojun Han²

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, 92 West Da-Zhi Street, Harbin 150001, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, 92 West Da-Zhi Street, Harbin 150001, China. Electronic address: hanxiaojun@hit.edu.cn.

Abstract

Nature has evolved elaborate, dynamic organelle morphologies for optimal organelle functions. Among them, cisternae stacks are the universal structure for most organelles. However, compared with the well-studied spherical cell/organelle membrane mimic, the fabrication of the ubiquitously present cisternal organelle-like membrane structures for organelle mimic remains a challenging task. Herein, rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER)-like helicoidal cisternae stacks were assembled to mimic the enzyme crowded environment in spatially confined RER cisternae. RER-like single helicoid, multiple helicoids, and secondary helix are all observed. Membrane electrostatics drives their formation and controls the percentages, which indicates the possible role of membrane electrostatics in RER shaping. The organelle-like cisternae stacks can reversibly expand and compress, which provides modulated crowded or de-crowded enzyme environment for biochemical reactions. This work provides advanced membrane models, and novel mechanisms for organelle shaping and helicoids formation, and holds great potential in biomimetics, cell biology, and advanced materials design.

Keywords: Biomaterials; Materials Science; Molecular Self-Assembly.