Passive endocytosis in model protocells
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Semipermeable membranes are a key feature of all living organisms. While specialized membrane transporters in cells can import otherwise impermeable nutrients, the earliest cells would have lacked a mechanism to import nutrients rapidly under nutrient-rich circumstances. Using both experiments and simulations, we find that a process akin to passive endocytosis can be recreated in model primitive cells. Molecules that are too impermeable to be absorbed can be taken up in a matter of seconds in an endocytic vesicle. The internalized cargo can then be slowly released over hours, into the main lumen or putative cytoplasm. This work demonstrates a way by which primitive life could have broken the symmetry of passive permeation prior to the evolution of protein transporters.
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funders: National Science Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Simons Foundation, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University, Brandeis University, Human Frontier Science Program, University of New South Wales, Department of Education and Training, Ono Pharma Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Australian Research Council, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences
Awards: Conferring life-like functions to protocells, G180487808, G2022906503, G2648730350, Calcium homeostasis in organelles, Collaborative Research: Regulation of Nuclear Size, G6407452041, Lubricated Immersed Boundary Method: Numerical Analysis, Benchmarking, and Applications, G8926281790, Intracellular Electrophysiology: An electrochemical atlas of organelles
OpenAlex ID: W4379469142