Micro-motors: A motile bacteria based system for liposome cargo transport

Abstract

Biological micro-motors (microorganisms) have potential applications in energy utilization and nanotechnology. However, harnessing the power generated by such motors to execute desired work is extremely difficult. Here, we employ the power of motile bacteria to transport small, large, and giant unilamellar vesicles (SUVs, LUVs, and GUVs). Furthermore, we demonstrate bacteria–bilayer interactions by probing glycolipids inside the model membrane scaffold. Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) spectroscopic and microscopic methods were utilized for understanding these interactions. We found that motile bacteria could successfully propel SUVs and LUVs with a velocity of 28 μm s−1 and 13 μm s−1, respectively. GUVs, however, displayed Brownian motion and could not be propelled by attached bacteria. Bacterial velocity decreased with the larger loaded cargo, which agrees with our calculations of loaded bacteria swimming at low Reynolds number.

Self-Propulsion Strategies for Artificial Cell-Like Compartments

“…Therefore, a higher content of THF was expected to keep the membrane flexible for a longer period of time during the transformation and result in a decrease in the size of the opening. Additionally, by using a shorter polystyrene hydrophobic tail (polystyrene 177 instead of the previously reported polystyrene 230 ) 33 a stronger effect on the shape transformation was expected, as it would keep the membrane more flexible and fluidic compared to the thicker membranes that result from using longer hydrophobic polystyrene segments.…”

“…However, steps in this direction have been taken recently. Vanderlick and colleagues [33] attached motile bacteria to propel SUVs and LUVs achieving average velocities of 28 µms −1 and 13 µms −1 , respectively. Larger vesicles, however, displayed only Brownian motion, agreeing with a predicted calculation of loaded bacterial propulsion at low-Reynolds number, where the Stokes' law applies.…”

Extracellular Vesicles Carry Distinct Proteo-Transcriptomic Signatures That are Different from Their Cancer Cell of Origin

“…These findings suggests that alternate strategies, similar to liposomes encapsulation (Dogra et al, 2019;Dogra et al, 2015;Dogra et al, 2016), must be followed for enriching cargo in the EVs (Dogra et al, 2019;Haraszti et al, 2018).…”

Bacterial Adherence to Plant and Animal Surfaces via Adhesin-Lipid Interactions

“…It was based on the interaction of the glucose molecules tagged on liposomes with the glycoproteins present on the surface of E. coli (Dogra et al 2012). The same type of interaction was also exploited to investigate the propulsion of lipid vesicles using the strength of E. coli bacteria motility as a function of the size of the vesicles (Dogra et al 2016). The glycolipidmediated interactions of bacteria with liposomes of different sizes (SUVs, LUVs, and GUVs) were evaluated by FRET microscopy.…”