Artificial systems capable of self-sustained movement with self-sufficient energy are of high interest with respect to the development of many challenging applications, including medical treatments, but also technical applications. The bottom-up assembly of such systems in the context of synthetic biology is still a challenging task. In this work, we demonstrate the biocompatibility and efficiency of an artificial light-driven energy module and a motility functional unit by integrating light-switchable photosynthetic vesicles with demembranated flagella. The flagellar propulsion is coupled to the beating frequency, and dynamic ATP synthesis in response to illumination allows us to control beating frequency of flagella in a light-dependent manner. In addition, we verified the functionality of light-powered synthetic vesicles in in vitro motility assays by encapsulating microtubules assembled with force-generating kinesin-1 motors and the energy module to investigate the dynamics of a contractile filamentous network in cell-like compartments by optical stimulation. Integration of this photosynthetic system with various biological building blocks such as cytoskeletal filaments and molecular motors may contribute to the bottom-up synthesis of artificial cells that are able to undergo motor-driven morphological deformations and exhibit directional motion in a light-controllable fashion.
Artificial systems capable of self-sustained directed movement are of high interest with respect to development of many challenging applications including medical treatments but also technical applications. The bottom-up assembly of such systems in the context of synthetic biology is still a challenging task. Here, we demonstrate the biocompatibility and efficiency of an artificial light-driven energy module and a motility functional unit by integrating light-switchable photosynthetic vesicles with demembranated flagella, thereby supplying ATP for dynein molecular motors upon illumination. Flagellar propulsion is coupled to its beating frequency and the dynamic synthesis of ATP triggered by energy of light, enabled us to control beating frequency of flagella as a function of illumination. Light-powered functionalized vesicles integrated with different biological building blocks such as bio-polymers and molecular motors may contribute to bottom-up synthesis of artificial cells that are able to undergo motor-driven morphological deformations and exhibit directional motion in a light-controllable fashion.
Chronic ulnar collateral ligament humeral origin avulsion fracture in young baseball players is a rare condition and a difficult problem to treat. Eight high school or college student baseball players with onset of symptoms in their adolescent ages were collected in this series. Their mean age at surgical intervention was 17.8 ± 1.99 years. The fracture was operated on with muscle splitting, ulnar nerve-sparing technique. Suture anchors were employed to fix the avulsed fragment. Visual analog scale, Mayo elbow performance score, and Conway scale were used for objective patient evaluation. The patients were followed up for 30.8 ± 10.2 months. Six patients have achieved solid bony union, and 2 had partial union. All patients showed no medial space widening on followed-up stress films. Visual Analogue Scale score improved from 9 to 0. The Mayo elbow performance score improved from 60 ± 10 to 85 ± 15 points pre- and post-operatively. The Conway scale had 3 excellent, 3 good, and 2 fair results. The average return to pitching occurred 7 months post-operatively at a rate of 75%. The present results indicate that open reduction and fixation with suture anchors is an effective treatment method for chronic ulnar collateral ligament humeral origin avulsion fracture in young baseball players.
Bio-actuated micro-swimmers provide a platform to understand physical principles related to the motion of micro-organisms at low Reynolds numbers. Here, we used isolated and demembranated flagella from green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as an ATP-fueled bio-actuator for propulsion of micron-sized beads. Chlamydomonas flagella have an asymmetric waveform, which can be accurately described as a superposition of a static component corresponding to an arc-shaped intrinsic curvature, a mode describing the global oscillations of the axonemal curvature, and a main base- to-tip traveling wave component. By decomposing experimental beat patterns in Fourier modes, and applying resistive force theory, we performed numerical simulations and obtained analytical approximations for the mean rotational and translational velocities of a flagellum-propelled bead. Our analysis reveals the existence of a counter- intuitive anomalous propulsion regime where the speed of the flagellum-driven cargo increases with increasing the cargo size. Further, it demonstrates that in addition to the intrinsic curvature and even harmonics, asymmetric bead-flagellum attachment also contributes in the rotational velocity of the micro-swimmer. This turning mechanism induced by sideways cargo attachment has potential applications in fabrication of bio- actuated medical micro-robots in the subject of targeted drug delivery and synthetic micro-swimmers.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.