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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 38: Focus: Biological Cells in Microfluidics II

BP 38.5: Vortrag

Freitag, 20. März 2020, 10:45–11:00, HÜL 386

DNA-mediated programmable functionalization and symmetry break in microfluidic droplets — •Kevin Jahnke^{1, 2} and Kerstin Göpfrich^{1, 2} — ¹Biophysical Engineering Group, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstraße 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany — ²Department of Physics and Astronomy, Heidelberg University, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany

Droplet-based microfluidics has emerged as a powerful tool in synthetic biology. For many applications, chemical functionalization of the droplets is a key process. Therefore, we developed a straight-forward and broadly applicable approach to functionalize the inner periphery of microfluidic droplets with diverse reactive groups and components. This method relies on cholesterol-tagged DNA that self-assembles at the droplet periphery [Jahnke et al., Adv. Funct. Mat. 2019]. The cholesterol-tagged DNA serves as an attachment handle for the recruitment of complementary DNA, which can carry diverse functional groups. We demonstrate that the attachment is thermo-responsive and exemplify the versatility of our approach. Further, we employ our DNA-linker system to engineer light-activated directional contractility of a minimal actomyosin network inside microfluidic cell-sized compartments. Ultimately, symmetry breaking is achieved using the DNA link between the actin network and the compartment periphery.

We envision that droplet functionalization via DNA handles will help to tailor interfaces for diverse applications -- featuring programmable assembly, unique addressability, and stimuli-responsiveness -- hence increasing the complexity of synthetic cellular systems.