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
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.
De Franceschi et al., Nature Nanotechnology 2023