Synthetic cells can be constructed from diverse molecular components, without the design constraints associated with modifying 'living' biological systems. This can be exploited to generate cells with abiotic components, creating functionalities absent in biology. One example is magnetic responsiveness, the activation and modulation of encapsulated biochemical processes using a magnetic field, which is absent from existing synthetic cell designs. This is a critical oversight, as magnetic fields are uniquely bio-orthogonal, noninvasive, and highly penetrative. Here, we address this by producing artificial magneto-responsive organelles by coupling thermoresponsive membranes with hyperthermic Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles and embedding them in synthetic cells. Combining these systems enables synthetic cell microreactors to be built using a nested vesicle architecture, which can respond to alternating magnetic fields through in situ enzymatic catalysis. We also demonstrate the modulation of biochemical reactions by using different magnetic field strengths and the potential to tune the system using different lipid compositions. This platform could unlock a wide range of applications for synthetic cells as programmable micromachines in biomedicine and biotechnology.

中文翻译：

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合成细胞中生化合成的磁调节

合成细胞可以由不同的分子成分构建，不受与修改“活”生物系统相关的设计限制。这可以用来产生具有非生物成分的细胞，创造生物学中不存在的功能。一个例子是磁响应性，即使用磁场激活和调节封装的生化过程，这在现有的合成细胞设计中是不存在的。这是一个重要的疏忽，因为磁场具有独特的生物正交性、非侵入性和高度穿透性。在这里，我们通过将热响应膜与高温 Fe ₃ O ₄纳米颗粒偶联并将其嵌入合成细胞中来生产人工磁响应细胞器来解决这个问题。将这些系统结合起来，可以使用嵌套囊泡结构构建合成细胞微反应器，该结构可以通过原位酶催化响应交变磁场。我们还证明了通过使用不同的磁场强度来调节生化反应，以及使用不同的脂质成分来调整系统的潜力。该平台可以开启合成细胞作为生物医学和生物技术中可编程微型机器的广泛应用。