Calcium-triggered DNA-mediated membrane fusion in synthetic cells

Yen-Yu Hsu; Samuel J Chen; Julio Bernal-Chanchavac; Bineet Sharma; Hossein Moghimianavval; Nicholas Stephanopoulos; Allen P Liu

doi:10.1101/2023.05.06.539684

Calcium-triggered DNA-mediated membrane fusion in synthetic cells

bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Jun 2:2023.05.06.539684. doi: 10.1101/2023.05.06.539684.

Authors

Yen-Yu Hsu¹, Samuel J Chen¹, Julio Bernal-Chanchavac², Bineet Sharma³, Hossein Moghimianavval¹, Nicholas Stephanopoulos², Allen P Liu^{1

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Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
² School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.
³ Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
⁵ Cellular and Molecular Biology Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
⁶ Biophysics Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.

Abstract

In cells, membrane fusion is mediated by SNARE proteins, whose activities are calcium-dependent. While several non-native membrane fusion mechanisms have been demonstrated, few can respond to external stimuli. Here, we develop a calcium-triggered DNA-mediated membrane fusion strategy where fusion is regulated using surface-bound PEG chains that are cleavable by the calcium-activated protease calpain-1.

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Preprint

Abstract

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