Researchers report asymmetric division of artificial cells

Qiao Yan and collaborators reported this week that they had induced asymmetric division in artificial cells, a result the team described in a Nature paper published on May 13 and in social-media posts shared on May 14. The work came from researchers at the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing University of Chemical Technology and the University of Bristol, according to Chinese Academy of Sciences and Xinhua reports. The experiments used multilamellar liquid-crystal droplets as simplified artificial-cell models. The researchers said the droplets could split into two different offspring with distinct structures and functions. ### What exactly did the researchers say they built? The Nature paper described “lipid-nucleotide multilamellar droplets” that behaved as structured liquid droplets rather than living cells with full biological machinery. Nature’s summary said those droplets exhibited asymmetric division without reconstituted protein machinery, and the team framed the system as a step toward bottom-up assembly of proliferating artificial cells. (nature.com) The Chinese Academy of Sciences said the group constructed multilamellar liquid-crystal droplets as rudimentary models of artificial cells. In those models, the internal layered organization mattered: Chinese state media reports said disordered structures disintegrated rather than dividing, while only structured lamellar droplets underwent the reported asymmetric split. ### How did the division happen in the experiments? (nature.com) On May 14, Xinhua and other Chinese Academy of Sciences-linked reports said the droplets divided after exposure to alkaline phosphatase or certain metal ions. The reports said the trigger created a localized indentation on the droplet surface, followed by formation of a shell-like boundary and eventual separation of the inner core from the outer layer. (en.ncsti.gov.cn) Qiao Yan said the process amounted to a selective peeling inside the artificial cell model. Chinese Academy of Sciences reports said the parent structure ultimately produced two unlike offspring: one retained the multilamellar droplet core, while the outer shell closed into a multilamellar vesicle containing water. ### What made the two daughter structures different? Wang Shu, director of the Institute of Chemistry at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the two offspring differed in both form and function. (en.ncsti.gov.cn) Chinese Academy of Sciences coverage said molecules carried by the parent could be distributed into both daughters while remaining active after division. The reports said the vesicle-like daughter was relatively loose and released some cargo into the surrounding environment, while the droplet-like daughter retained material more effectively. (cas.cn) That functional split is central to the team’s claim that the system models a basic feature of asymmetric division rather than a simple equal split. ### Why are the researchers linking this to protocells and synthetic biology? (cas.cn) Nature said the findings were a step toward bottom-up assembly of proliferating artificial cells. The Chinese Academy of Sciences and Xinhua reports said the platform could help researchers study life-like behavior in primitive cells and provide a model for protocell formation and the emergence of early cellular functions. Qiao Yan said realization of asymmetric division could support artificial cells with life-like properties, including functional differentiation and inheritance of distinct traits across generations of progeny cells. (cas.cn) That interpretation was attributed directly to Yan in the Chinese Academy of Sciences account. ### What are the limits of the result so far? Wang Shu said current artificial cells still cannot divide continuously and propagate stably the way natural cells do. (nature.com) That limitation appeared in Chinese Academy of Sciences and Xinhua reports published on May 14, alongside the release of the Nature study. The next phase, according to those reports, is to give artificial cells multi-generational proliferation capabilities and combine them with gene-expression and metabolic modules. (en.ncsti.gov.cn) The paper appeared in Nature’s May 14 issue, and the team’s May 14 thread included diagrams and experimental notes describing the reported division pathway. (nature.com)