Rebuilding Cytokinesis One Molecule at a Time

Cells are the fundamental units of life. They make up all living things, from bacteria that live in the soil, to archea that give thermal springs their bright colors, to trees and humans. All of these cells share some common functions: they build themselves from basic building blocks, following the instructions of their genetic blueprint, and...

Expanding Through Collisions: A Dual Perspective on the Future of a Synthetic Cell

In this work, we studied future expansions of a synthetic cell with a dual perspective. For the Nanobiology part, we studied how the membrane surface area of a synthetic cell can grow, which is required for a synthetic cell to divide. Here, we combined growth strategies based on DNA and tension-mediated vesicle fusion. We found that 1 μM DNA and...

Temperature, lipid charge and septin dependence of lateral lipid diffusion in biomimetic membrane systems

Plasma membrane dynamics have become increasingly of interest due to recent discoveries on anomalous lipid diffusion in live cells. A specific characteristic has been found in the exponential relation between lateral lipid diffusion and temperature. The finding was reported to be surprising as a linear dependence was theoretically predicted. In...

Models of synaptotagmin-1 to trigger Ca²⁺-dependent vesicle fusion

Vesicles in neurons and neuroendocrine cells store neurotransmitters and peptide hormones, which are released by vesicle fusion in response to Ca²⁺-evoking stimuli. Synaptotagmin-1 (Syt1), a Ca²⁺ sensor, mediates ultrafast exocytosis in neurons and neuroendocrine cells. After vesicle docking, Syt1 has two main groups of...