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Approaches Towards Synthetic Signal Transduction in Phospholipid Bilayers

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New Trends in Macromolecular and Supramolecular Chemistry for Biological Applications

Abstract

Synthetic signal transduction is an exciting new research field that applies supramolecular chemistry in a membrane environment to provide insight into the physical processes involved in natural signal transduction and to open new opportunities in synthetic biology, for example the integration of artificial signaling pathways into cells. Although it is still a developing field, we discuss a selection of recent stimuli-responsive supramolecular constructs that, when embedded in the phospholipid bilayer, can mimic aspects of the behavior of different natural signaling proteins, including ligand-gated ion channels, G-protein coupled receptors and receptor tyrosine kinases. The lipid bilayer plays a key part in these biomimetic systems, as this complex anisotropic environment provides challenges both when designing supramolecular systems that function in the bilayer and when analyzing the data they provide. Nonetheless these recent studies have provided key insights into how the bilayer affects binding to, the conformation of, and catalysis by membrane-embedded supramolecular constructs. If successful, these model systems promise to be key components for bottom-up synthetic biology, the creation of artificial cells and devices starting from molecular components.

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Abbreviations

Aib:

α-amino-iso-butyric acid

ATP:

adenosine triphosphate

CFTR:

cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator

DET:

diethylenetriamine

DMPC:

1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine

DNA:

deoxyribonucleic acid

DOPC:

1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine

DOPE:

1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine

DPPC:

1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine

E/M :

excimer/monomer

EDTA:

ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid

EGFR:

epidermal growth factor receptor

FRET:

Förster resonance energy transfer

GABA:

γ-aminobutyric acid

GDP:

guanosine diphosphate

GPCR:

G-protein coupled receptor

GTP:

guanosine triphosphate

h.e.:

helical excess

HPTS:

8-hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonic acid

HRE:

hormone responsive element

IR:

insulin receptor

nAChR:

nicotinic acetylcholine receptor

NMR:

nuclear magnetic resonance

PA:

2-phenethylamine

PBC:

planar bilayer conductance

pLGIC:

pentameric ligand-gated ion channel

RTK:

receptor tyrosine kinase

SHR:

steroid hormone receptor

ss-NMR:

solid state nuclear magnetic resonance

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Acknowledgements

FDS, DPT and SJW thank the EPSRC (grant EP/P027067/1) for financial support.

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Correspondence to Simon J. Webb .

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© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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della Sala, F., Tilly, D.P., Webb, S.J. (2021). Approaches Towards Synthetic Signal Transduction in Phospholipid Bilayers. In: J.M. Abadie, M., Pinteala, M., Rotaru, A. (eds) New Trends in Macromolecular and Supramolecular Chemistry for Biological Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57456-7_1

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