Descripción del proyecto
Implicar las bacterias en la creación de protocélulas sintéticas
La modificación de sistemas celulares artificiales con propiedades realistas, como el metabolismo mínimo, la detección, la replicación, la expresión génica y la compartimentalización, representa una estrategia ideal para comprender la transición de la materia física a manifestaciones de protovida. El proyecto PROTOBAC, financiado con fondos europeos, tiene como objetivo diseñar una protocélula multicomponente y compleja a partir de la perturbación y el secuestro controlados de las colonias de bacterias vivas compartimentalizadas. Las protocélulas resultantes estarán sujetas por un ensamblaje de lípidos de la membrana bacteriana y cargadas de diversos componentes genéticos y metabólicos funcionalmente activos. La complejidad de las protocélulas bacterianas aumentará a través de la introducción de orgánulos biológicos, que deberían producir el primer ejemplo de célula protoeucariota.
Objetivo
The engineering of artificial cellular systems (i.e. protocells) exhibiting rudimentary life-like properties, such as minimal metabolism, sensing or replication, gene expression and compartmentalization, represents the most suitable path to undertake to answer the important question on how inanimate systems can transition into proto-living manifestations of physical matter. However, most of the current protocell designs still lack the structural and organisational complexity required for them to perform advanced functions and behaviours. Instead of starting from non-living materials, the aim of this proposal is precisely to design and construction of complex multi-component protocells based on the controlled sequestration and disruption of compartmentalized living bacterial colonies. The result protocells will bound by an assemblage of bacterial membrane lipids and internally loaded with a large number of functionally active metabolic and genetic components. Furthermore, the structural and functional complexity of the bacteria-derived protocells will be increased by introducing several important biological organelles such as proto-nuclear, proto-mitochondria components and endomembrane system, which is expected to produce the first example of protoeukaryote. The previous expertise of the applicant in the field of biotechnology, synthetic biology and microbiology will be applied to the multidisciplinary and emerging field of protocells in which the hosting group of Professor Stephen Mann FRS at the University of Bristol has been pioneering over the last few years. The key outcome of the combined research efforts of the applicant and the Mann group will lead to the synthesis of bacteria derived protocells and develop their advanced forms capable of increased energy (metabolic) capacity and transduction, spatial segregation of genetic material (plasmids etc), and higher-order organization and processing.
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinador
BS8 1QU Bristol
Reino Unido