Phospholipid Self-Assemblies Shaped Like Ancient Chinese Coins for Artificial Organelles

Anal Chem. 2020 Apr 21;92(8):6060-6064. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.0c00430. Epub 2020 Apr 1.

Abstract

Phospholipid self-assemblies are ubiquitous in organisms. Nonspherical lipid-based proto-organelles bear the merits with structures similar to real organelles. It is still a challenge to mimic mass transport between organelles inside cells. Herein, unusual phospholipid self-assemblies shaped like ancient Chinese coins (ACC) were discovered by the recrystallization of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine in an ethanol/water solution from 50 to 25 °C with a certain cooling rate. Their diameter and the ratio of the square edge to the disk diameter were controlled by varying ethanol percentage, lipid concentration, and cooling rate. The ACC-shaped phospholipid bicelles expanded to stacked cisterna structures in pure water, which were regarded as artificial organelles. Mass transport among organelles in a cell was mimicked via the membrane fusion of vesicle shuttles and artificial organelles, which induced cascade enzyme reactions inside artificial organelles. The ACC-shaped phospholipid assemblies provide nice platforms for the studies of cell biology and bottom-up synthetic biology.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Optical Imaging
  • Phospholipids / chemical synthesis
  • Phospholipids / chemistry*
  • Unilamellar Liposomes / chemistry

Substances

  • Phospholipids
  • Unilamellar Liposomes