Reconstitution and control of chemo-mechanical deformations in synthetic cells

Develop experimental strategies to reconstitute and externally control chemically regulated cell-shape deformations in synthetic cell systems, enabling programmable chemo-mechanical dynamics necessary for synthetic-cell construction and function.

Background

Chemo-mechanical waves that couple biochemical signaling to actomyosin-driven mechanics are central to dynamic shape control in living cells. Establishing analogous, programmable capabilities in synthetic cells is a key goal for bottom-up synthetic biology but remains unresolved.

The paper demonstrates optogenetic control of Rho-mediated contractility in starfish oocytes as a step toward programmable shape dynamics, underscoring the broader challenge of achieving comparable control in fully reconstituted synthetic systems.