Regensburg 2025 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 26: Synthetic life-like systems and Origins of Life

BP 26.2: Talk

Thursday, March 20, 2025, 09:45–10:00, H46

Membraneless protocell confined by a heat flow — •Alexander Floroni¹, Noël Yeh Martín², Thomas Matreux¹, Laura Weise³, Sheref Mansy⁴, Hannes Mutschler⁵, Christof Mast¹, and Dieter Braun¹ — ¹Systems Biophysics, LMU Munich; München, Germany — ²Institute of Biotechnology HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland — ³MPI of Biochemistry; Martinsried, Germany — ⁴Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta; Edmonton, Canada — ⁵Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, TU Dortmund; Dortmund, Germany

In living cells, a complex mixture of biomolecules is assembled within and across membranes. This state is maintained by a sophisticated protein machinery. It imports nutrients, removes waste, and orchestrates cell division. Here we show how the molecular contents of a cell can be coupled in a coordinated way to the non-equilibrium of a heat flow. A temperature difference across a water-filled pore accumulated the core components of a modern cell to make a functional reaction. The mechanism arose from the interplay of convection and thermophoresis. Protein synthesis was triggered as a direct result of the up-concentration. The same non-equilibrium setting continued to attract nutrients from an adjacent fluid stream, while keeping the cellular molecules confined. Our results show how a simple and archaic non-equilibrium physical process can assemble the many different molecules of a cell and trigger its basic functions. The framework provides a membrane-free environment to bridge the long evolutionary times from an RNA world to a protein-based cell-like proto-metabolism.

Keywords: Thermophoresis; artificial cell; synthetic cell; thermal non-equilibrium