Chemical approaches to synthetic prototissues

Compartmentalised cell-like entities (protocells) have been constructed from a wide range of materials and have gained much interest in the scientific community as a means of modelling complex biological systems, and of advancing future living technologies. In particular, proteinosomes are self-assembling membrane-bound microscale constructs which have been shown to be capable of biomaterial encapsulation, selective permeability, gene directed protein synthesis, and collective behaviors. The chemical programming of proteinosome membranes can provide an opportunity for new stimuli-responsive protocells and prototissues to be synthesized with unprecedented emergent behaviors, and the possibility of new targeted delivery systems. Providing proteinosome communities with programmed chemical reactivity will escalate progression towards practical models of life-like systems, and will advance the development of complex functional microsystems and protocellular ecosystems.