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Self-reproduction of supramolecular giant vesicles combined with the amplification of encapsulated DNA

Nature Chemistry volume 3, pages 775–781 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

The construction of a protocell from a materials point of view is important in understanding the origin of life. Both self-reproduction of a compartment and self-replication of an informational substance have been studied extensively, but these processes have typically been carried out independently, rather than linked to one another. Here, we demonstrate the amplification of DNA (encapsulated guest) within a self-reproducible cationic giant vesicle (host). With the addition of a vesicular membrane precursor, we observe the growth and spontaneous division of the giant vesicles, accompanied by distribution of the DNA to the daughter giant vesicles. In particular, amplification of the DNA accelerated the division of the giant vesicles. This means that self-replication of an informational substance has been linked to self-reproduction of a compartment through the interplay between polyanionic DNA and the cationic vesicular membrane. Our self-reproducing giant vesicle system therefore represents a step forward in the construction of an advanced model protocell.

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Figure 1: Schematic representation of the chemical link between amplification of DNA and self-reproduction of GVs.
Figure 2: Amplification of DNA inside GVs and growth-and-division of DNA-amplified GVs.
Figure 3: Influence of the amount of amplified DNA on the division frequency of DNA-amplified GVs stained by rhodamine-tagged lipids.
Figure 4: Effect of amplified encapsulated DNA on the dynamics of self-reproducing GVs.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support from KAKENHI (Grant-in Aid for Scientific Research) for Priority Area ‘Soft Matter Physics’ (area no. 463) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan. The authors also thank M.M. Hanczyc for helpful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Basic Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, 153-8902, Tokyo, Japan

    Kensuke Kurihara, Mieko Tamura, Taro Toyota, Kentaro Suzuki & Tadashi Sugawara

  2. Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, 153-8902, Tokyo, Japan

    Koh-ichiroh Shohda

  3. Research Center of Life Science as Complex Systems, University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, 153-8902, Tokyo, Japan

    Koh-ichiroh Shohda, Taro Toyota, Kentaro Suzuki & Tadashi Sugawara

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  1. Kensuke Kurihara
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Contributions

T.S., K.K. and K.Su. conceived and designed the experiments. K.K. performed experiments. M.T. contributed the protocol. K.Su. contributed analysis. T.T. and K.Sh. contributed discussion of the data. T.S. wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Tadashi Sugawara.

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Kurihara, K., Tamura, M., Shohda, Ki. et al. Self-reproduction of supramolecular giant vesicles combined with the amplification of encapsulated DNA. Nature Chem 3, 775–781 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1127

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