Photoswitchable gating of non-equilibrium enzymatic feedback in chemically communicating polymersome nanoreactors

作者：Omar Rifaie‐Graham, Jonathan Yeow, Adrian Najer, Richard Wang, Rujie Sun, Kun Li Zhou, Tristan N. Dell, Christopher Adrianus, Chalaisorn Thanapongpibul, Mohamed Chami, Stephen Mann, Javier Read de Alaniz, Molly M. Stevens · 发表于：Nature Chemistry · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1038/s41557-022-01062-4 · 被引用次数：121 · 研究领域：Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry、Photoreceptor and optogenetics research、Lipid Membrane Structure and Behavior

The circadian rhythm generates out-of-equilibrium metabolite oscillations that are controlled by feedback loops under light/dark cycles. Here we describe a non-equilibrium nanosystem comprising a binary population of enzyme-containing polymersomes capable of light-gated chemical communication, controllable feedback and coupling to macroscopic oscillations. The populations consist of esterase-containing polymersomes functionalized with photo-responsive donor-acceptor Stenhouse adducts (DASA) and light-insensitive semipermeable urease-loaded polymersomes. The DASA-polymersome membrane becomes permeable under green light, switching on esterase activity and decreasing the pH, which in turn initiates the production of alkali in the urease-containing population. A pH-sensitive pigment that absorbs green light when protonated provides a negative feedback loop for deactivating the DASA-polymersomes. Simultaneously, increased alkali production deprotonates the pigment, reactivating esterase activity by opening the membrane gate. We utilize light-mediated fluctuations of pH to perform non-equilibrium communication between the nanoreactors and use the feedback loops to induce work as chemomechanical swelling/deswelling oscillations in a crosslinked hydrogel. We envision possible applications in artificial organelles, protocells and soft robotics.