Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Wang, Xuejing
• Du, Hang
• Wang, Zhao
• Mu, Wei
• Han, Xiaojun

Titel

Versatile Phospholipid Assemblies for Functional Synthetic Cells and Artificial Tissues

Ist Teil von

• Advanced materials (Weinheim), 2021-02, Vol.33 (6), p.e2002635-n/a

Ort / Verlag

Germany: Wiley Subscription Services, Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Quelle

Wiley-Blackwell Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The bottom‐up construction of a synthetic cell from nonliving building blocks capable of mimicking cellular properties and behaviors helps to understand the particular biophysical properties and working mechanisms of a cell. A synthetic cell built in this way possesses defined chemical composition and structure. Since phospholipids are native biomembrane components, their assemblies are widely used to mimic cellular structures. Here, recent developments in the formation of versatile phospholipid assemblies are described, together with the applications of these assemblies for functional membranes (protein reconstituted giant unilamellar vesicles), spherical and nonspherical protoorganelles, and functional synthetic cells, as well as the high‐order hierarchical structures of artificial tissues. Their biomedical applications are also briefly summarized. Finally, the challenges and future directions in the field of synthetic cells and artificial tissues based on phospholipid assemblies are proposed. Phospholipids, with a hydrophilic head and two hydrophobic tails, are amphiphilic compounds capable of assembling into versatile membranous assemblies for the study of synthetic cells and artificial tissues. Current synthetic cell studies realize partial cell characteristics. It is imperative to increase hierarchical complexity of synthetic cells for a minimal cell with full life features.