Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Lucia Trevisan, Istvan Kocsis, Christopher A. Hunter
Summary: The transmission of chemical signals across lipid bilayer membranes was achieved by using membrane-anchored molecules and an external redox signal delivered by ascorbic acid to trigger membrane translocation in a synthetic transduction system.
CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Laura E. Bickerton, Toby G. Johnson, Aidan Kerckhoffs, Matthew J. Langton
Summary: Lipid bilayer membranes are essential compartments for life, and their function can be controlled by interfacing with supramolecular systems. This rapidly expanding field holds great prospects for applications in biology and medicine in the future.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jisun Hwang, Bohee Jang, Ayoung Kim, Yejin Lee, Joonha Lee, Chungho Kim, Jinmahn Kim, Kyeong Min Moon, Kyuhyung Kim, Ram Wagle, Young-Han Song, Eok-Soo Oh
Summary: The transmembrane domain (TMD) of syndecan-2 specifically regulates receptor cytoplasmic domain function and downstream signaling events controlling cell behavior, as shown through in vivo invertebrate models.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Hui Chen, Wanyu Xu, Hui Shi, Yan Qiao, Xiaoxiao He, Jing Zheng, Shaohong Zhou, Xiaohai Yang, Kemin Wang, Jianbo Liu
Summary: In this study, an artificial transmembrane signal transduction system using DNA-based artificial membrane receptors is described. Through low pH-mediated formation of the i-motif and dimerization of the receptors, fluorescence resonance energy transfer and G-quadruplex/hemin-mediated fluorescence amplification are activated within giant unilamellar vesicles. The study also establishes an intercellular signal communication model using coacervate microdroplets, which activate the dimerization of artificial receptors and subsequent fluorescence production or polymerization in giant unilamellar vesicles.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Matthew J. Langton
Summary: This review discusses the development of stimuli-responsive supramolecular systems for controlling ion transport, signal transduction, and catalysis in lipid bilayer membrane systems. Recent progress in achieving spatio-temporal control over activity in artificial and living cells is highlighted in the article. Challenges, scope, limitations, and future potential for using supramolecular systems to engineer stimuli-responsive lipid bilayer membranes are also discussed.
NATURE REVIEWS CHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Hyunseok Shim, Faheem Ershad, Shubham Patel, Yongcao Zhang, Binghao Wang, Zhihua Chen, Tobin J. Marks, Antonio Facchetti, Cunjiang Yu
Summary: The research team reported an elastic and reconfigurable synaptic transistor that exhibits inhibitory and excitatory characteristics even under mechanical strain. The device uses a stretchable bilayer semiconductor and an encapsulating elastomer, showing memory characteristics and low energy consumption. When applied to an artificial neural network, it achieves recognition accuracy of over 90% even when stretched by 50%.
NATURE ELECTRONICS
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Biomaterials
Zhengguo Chen, Wangting Zhou, Yujing Wei, Lingling Shi, Zhaoxia Zhang, Mehran Dadgar, Guocheng Zhu, Guoqing Zhang
Summary: A novel NIR light-triggered temperature-sensitive drug delivery system has been developed for controllable release of drug. This system uses a phase change material as a drug carrier and releases the drug through a solid-liquid transition upon temperature change. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and controllability of this system.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY B
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Stephen D. P. Fielden, Matthew J. Derry, Alisha J. Miller, Paul D. Topham, Rachel K. O'Reilly
Summary: Biological cells are surrounded by phospholipid membranes to retain their contents. The fusion of phospholipid membranes mediates the movement of material within and between cells, allowing mixing of contents or excretion of material. While biological membrane fusion is well-studied, the controlled fusion of polymer-based membranes is largely unexplored. In this study, triggered polymersome fusion was demonstrated using out-of-equilibrium polymersomes formed by ring-opening metathesis polymerization-induced self-assembly, which persist until a specific chemical signal triggers their fusion. This research is important for developing communication methods between polymersomes and emulating life-like behaviors in synthetic nanotechnology.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Analytical
Lina Wang, Xuemin Zeng, Wei Shen, Sheng Tang, Hian Kee Lee
Summary: Artificial cells have similar characteristics to natural cells and can mimic their functions. Liposomes and vesicles, which are widely used in biomedicine, have good biocompatibility and can be loaded with biomolecules as recognition sites for other substances. This feature of liposomes has been extensively utilized in biosensor platforms. This review explores the application of artificial cells in analytical chemistry, focusing on the fabrication methods, materials, and detection methods.
TRAC-TRENDS IN ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Ricki Chairil, Noah Malmstadt
Summary: Curvature-mediated lipid-protein interactions play a crucial role in cellular reactions and mechanisms. This study investigates the membrane curvature partitioning behavior of cube-shaped CsPbBr3 quantum dots (QDs) embedded within deformed giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs). The results show that the distribution of CsPbBr3 QDs differs significantly from that of conventional fluorophores and quasispherical CdSe core/ZnS shell QDs, suggesting that the geometry of both QDs and lipid membranes affect the curvature preferences of QDs. These findings provide insights into the aggregation of proteins induced by curvature and the interactions between lipid membranes and intercalating particles.
Article
Immunology
Yi Guo, Xia-Nan Zhang, Shan Su, Zi-Lun Ruan, Ming-Ming Hu, Hong-Bing Shu
Summary: Upon viral infection, the levels of beta-adrenergic hormones and their receptors decrease, inhibiting the innate antiviral response. Increased levels of beta-adrenergic hormones activate PKA kinase, which phosphorylates MITA and VISA, suppressing the innate immune response to DNA and RNA viruses. These findings provide insights into the regulatory mechanisms of innate antiviral responses and the increased susceptibility to viral infection in stressful situations.
CELLULAR & MOLECULAR IMMUNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Rong-Chang Li, Laurie L. Molday, Chih-Chun Lin, Xiaozhi Ren, Alexander Fleischmann, Robert S. Molday, King-Wai Yau
Summary: This study provides evidence that the ligand-triggered GPCR pathway in mammalian olfactory transduction produces less than one downstream effector when an odorant-receptor molecule is complexed with its most effective odorants. This finding suggests a potential paradigm shift in our understanding of GPCR signaling.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Norman L. Gershfeld, Ralph Nossal
Summary: Unilamellar liposome is commonly used in lipid-protein interaction studies and drug delivery for disease treatment, while related lipid-containing nanoparticles are utilized in the development of mRNA vaccines. It has been found that only unilamellar films form in equilibrium lipid dispersions at specific temperatures dependent on the lipid identities. Thermodynamic analysis confirms that films at air-water surfaces can be employed to monitor the properties of lipid vesicles in the dispersion.
BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOMEMBRANES
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Sreelakshmi Radhakrishnan, Karthika S. Nair, Samir Nandi, Harsha Bajaj
Summary: In this study, semi-permeable GUVs were constructed by engineering the composition of DOTAP lipid, allowing control over their size-selective permeability without the need for reconstituting membrane proteins. These semi-permeable GUVs have significant applications in constructing synthetic cells.
CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zhi Jia, Ran Tang, Xiaoyu Yuan, Hengmin Zhu, Jiaqi Guo, Yutong Chen, Yonglan Yang, Bin Liang, Shuhao Lu, Derong Cao, Jie Liu
Summary: This study constructs intelligent resveratrol-loaded supramolecular vesicles to alleviate beta-amyloid protein aggregation in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The vesicles can modulate Zinc-dependent aggregation and reprogram microglia, preventing neuroinflammation and cytotoxicity. With administration, they can overcome the blood brain barrier and improve cognitive impairment in AD mouse models. This work provides a new approach for treating CNS disorders using Zinc.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Petr Motloch, Christopher A. Hunter
Summary: The study reports the self-assembly of a unique molecular container, a hybrid cage combining hydrogen bonding and metal coordination as crucial components of its topology. The hybrid cage, prepared by combining hydrogen-bonded rosette motif and palladium(II)/platinum(II) coordination to a pyridine ligand, shows a genuine dual character for the first time. The dual character is demonstrated as the two self-assembling parts selectively responding to different stimuli, leading to the disassembly of the cage.
CHEMISTRY-A EUROPEAN JOURNAL
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Organic
Istvan Kocsis, Elena Sanna, Christopher A. Hunter
Summary: The use of multiple dye units on the surface of vesicles significantly increases the binding affinity for α-synuclein fibrils and enhances optical response, providing a general strategy for constructing multivalent amyloid probes based on vesicles.
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Diego Nunez-Villanueva, Christopher A. Hunter
Summary: The translation and transfer of sequence information in synthetic polymers remains a major challenge. However, a covalent base-pairing strategy has been successfully used to copy information encoded in a template into a sequence-complementary oligomer. This chemical approach offers opportunities to manipulate the nature of information transferred in the replication process.
ACCOUNTS OF CHEMICAL RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Ennio Lavagnini, Joanne L. Cook, Patrick B. Warren, Christopher A. Hunter
Summary: New methods have been described to calculate DPD parameters directly from chemical structure, allowing for a wider range of organic compounds to be simulated.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY B
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Carlo Bravin, Justyna A. Piekos, Giulia Licini, Christopher A. Hunter, Cristiano Zonta
Summary: Research has shown that aromatic stacking interactions play a crucial role in chemical and biological systems. Due to their strong dependence on orientation and solvent, as well as relatively small interaction energies, evaluating and rationalizing these interactions remains a challenge for experimental and theoretical chemists.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yujie Zhu, Minmin Tang, Huibin Zhang, Faiz-Ur Rahman, Pablo Ballester, Julius Rebek, Christopher A. Hunter, Yang Yu
Summary: The study compared the relative contributions of cation-pi interaction and the hydrophobic effect to the binding of molecular guests in synthetic container hosts in water. The results showed that the container molecules preferred binding to the uncharged tert-butyl groups, indicating a stronger interaction compared to cation-pi interactions.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Medicinal
Mark D. Driver, Mark J. Williamson, Nicola De Mitri, Teodor Nikolov, Christopher A. Hunter
Summary: SSIPTools is a software suite for modeling noncovalent interactions in neutral organic molecules, with implementations for generating SSIP descriptors, Functional Group Interaction Profiles (FGIPs), and Solvent Similarity Indexes (SSIs) based on the SSIMPLE approach.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL INFORMATION AND MODELING
(2021)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Rafael Barbas, Hanan Fael, Samuel Lee, Rebeca Ruiz, Christopher A. Hunter, Elisabet Fuguet, Clara Rafols, Rafel Prohens
Summary: A computational screening methodology based on intermolecular interaction energies was applied to discover new solid forms of Adefovir Dipivoxyl. Three new cocrystals with resorcinol, orcinol, and hydroquinone were synthesized and characterized. The cocrystals of orcinol and resorcinol showed significantly improved dissolution rates at stomach conditions and faster penetration into organic membranes compared to the single solid form.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Carlo Bravin, Nol Duindam, Christopher A. Hunter
Summary: Reversible formation of covalent adducts between a thiol and a membrane-anchored Michael acceptor has been used to control the activation of a caged enzyme encapsulated inside vesicles, resulting in enzyme uncaging and substrate hydrolysis to generate a fluorescence output signal. The key to signal transduction is the increase in local concentration of thiol, and the transient nature of enzyme activation allows for repeated generation of output signals by sequential addition of thiol.
Article
Chemistry, Organic
Daniele Rosa-Gastaldo, Vytautas Peciukenas, Christopher A. Hunter, Luca Gabrielli
Summary: The study investigates the impact of folding interactions between complementary recognition units on the formation of duplex structures in synthetic oligomers. The use of a long and rigid linker as a backbone connecting two monomer units successfully prevents folding and leads to the formation of a stable mixed sequence duplex.
ORGANIC & BIOMOLECULAR CHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Derek P. Reynolds, Maria Chiara Storer, Christopher A. Hunter
Summary: SSIPs quantitatively describe non-covalent interactions between molecules and the environment, allowing for the calculation of solvation energies and partition coefficients. A rule-based approach and experimental data parameterize the model, which accurately describes the transfer of solutes between water and various organic solvents.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Istvan Kocsis, Yudi Ding, Nicholas H. Williams, Christopher A. Hunter
Summary: A synthetic transducer has been developed to trigger catalytic reactions inside lipid vesicles in response to metal ions, with the mechanism based on the transport of the metal ion cofactor across the bilayer. The system can be reversibly switched between on and off states by adding specific input signals, and the transducer is equipped with a hydrazide moiety for modulating activity. This coupling of transport with catalysis provides a straightforward mechanism for generating complex systems using simple components.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Diego Nunez-Villanueva, Christopher A. Hunter
Summary: This study discusses the replication of sequence information in synthetic oligomers using covalent template-directed synthesis and introduces mutation through the use of covalent base-pairs. The ability to control mutation rate by adding different proportions of chemicals to the monomers is crucial for the development of synthetic systems capable of controlled evolution through replication with variation.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Lucia Trevisan, Istvan Kocsis, Christopher A. Hunter
Summary: The transmission of chemical signals across lipid bilayer membranes was achieved by using membrane-anchored molecules and an external redox signal delivered by ascorbic acid to trigger membrane translocation in a synthetic transduction system.
CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Petr Motloch, Pernille S. Bols, Harry L. Anderson, Christopher A. Hunter
Summary: The study shows the formation of a hexapyridine ligand with cooperative binding to a zinc porphyrin nanoring through functionalization of pyridine and barbiturate components. The 7-component assembly is formed at specific concentrations where the H-bonding and zinc porphyrin-pyridine interactions are required, with a mean effective molarity of around 200 mM in chloroform at 298 K.