ac0c00430_si_001.pdf (431.15 kB)
Phospholipid Self-Assemblies Shaped Like Ancient Chinese Coins for Artificial Organelles
journal contribution
posted on 2020-04-01, 13:40 authored by Chao Li, Qingchuan Li, Zhao Wang, Xiaojun HanPhospholipid
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.