光を化学エネルギーに変換する人工細胞の創出

抄録

Construction of a living cell from molecules and genes widens our understanding of how life systems are organized. Among cell functions, energy production and self-reproduction are fundamental for sustaining life. Here, we constructed an artificial organelle producing ATP by light, through assembling bacteriorhodopsin and ATP synthase onto liposome membrane. The photo-synthesized ATP was consumed as an energy for protein synthesis, eventually drove the self-production of the component proteins of the organelle. The de novo photo-synthesized bacteriorhodopsin and parts of ATP synthase enhanced ATP production efficiency of the artificial organelle in the positive feedback loop.