Interfacial assembly of protein-polymer nano-conjugates into stimulus-responsive biomimetic protocells

The mechanism of spontaneous assembly of microscale compartments is a central question for the origin of life, and has technological repercussions in diverse areas such as materials science, catalysis, biotechnology and biomedicine. Such compartments need to be semipermeable, structurally robust and capable of housing assemblages of functional components for internalized chemical transformations. In principle, proteins should be ideal building blocks for the construction of membrane-bound compartments but protein vesicles with cell-like properties are extremely rare. Here we present an approach to the interfacial assembly of protein-based micro-compartments (proteinosomes) that are delineated by a semi-permeable, stimulus-responsive, enzymatically active, elastic membrane consisting of a closely packed monolayer of conjugated protein-polymer building blocks. The proteinosomes can be dispersed in oil or water, thermally cycled to temperatures of 70 degrees C, and partially dried and re-inflated without loss of structural integrity. As a consequence, they exhibit protocellular properties such as guest molecule encapsulation, selective permeability, gene-directed protein synthesis and membrane-gated internalized enzyme catalysis.