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Cell division is one of the defining features of life.

When a bacterium divides, it grows by elongation while duplicating and segregating the genome.

 

Constriction of the cell results in the so-called "dumbbell" shape. Finally, the membrane scission machinery assembles at the narrow neck still connecting the two daughter cells. ​

Credits: Nicola De Franceschi

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De Franceschi et al., ACS Nano 2022

Scientists around the world are trying to build cell division from the bottom-up, with the goal of creating a fully autonomous, self-dividing synthetic cell.

By using the SMS technology, we reconstituted a minimal scission machinery composed of only one protein: the bacterial GTPase Dynamin A.

 

Dynamin A spontaneously assembles at the neck of constricted synthetic cells and induces both membrane hemi-scission and full scission.

Work done in the Dekker Lab.

De Franceschi et al., Nature Nanotechnology 2023

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