A research group led by graduate student Kanji Tomohara (at the time of research), Assistant Professor Yoshihiro Minagawa, and Professor Hiroyuki Noji from the Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo has successfully constructed compartmental structures mimicking the cellular nucleus within artificial cells, achieving spatial separation of transcription (DNA to mRNA) and translation (mRNA to protein). Attempts to artificially construct cells, the fundamental units of life, are being researched worldwide with the aim of understanding life systems and applying them to the production of useful substances. In particular, the compartmentalization of the cell nucleus, a characteristic of eukaryotes, plays an important role in precisely controlling genetic information expression, but this has not been adequately reproduced in previous artificial cell research. This study solved this problem by combining intrinsically disordered proteins and liquid-liquid phase separation of two types of synthetic polymers, successfully achieving spatial separation of transcription inside the cell nucleus and translation outside. These findings provide new insights into the basic principles of life systems and the origin of life, while also showing promise for applied developments such as industrial enzyme and pharmaceutical development.
Papers
Journal: Nature Communications
Title: Artificial cells with all-aqueous droplet-in-droplet structures for spatially separated transcription and translation
Authors: Kanji Tomohara, Yoshihiro Minagawa, Hiroyuki Noji*
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-55366-9