Life-Inspired Endogenous Dynamic Behavior of Lipid Droplet-like Microcompartments in Artificial Adipocyte-like Structures

Chemical systems that can replicate cellular behaviors are gaining increasing attention and are being used to study various biological processes. Here, a protein- or amylose-based assembly at an oil/water interface was employed to construct a large compartmentalized adipocyte-like structure, and a lipid droplet-like microcompartment (amylose-polymer-stabilized 2-ethyl-1-hexanol microcompartment), which exhibits floating behaviors driven by the amylose-polymer micelle solubilization, was introduced inside these adipocyte-like structures. When the lipase-based catalytic reaction and the external oil composition were controlled and another lipid droplet-like microcompartment (lipase-stabilized tributyrin microcompartment) was introduced, then a series of dynamic behaviors were exhibited by the two types of lipid droplet-like microcompartments, including growth, self-sorting, and fusion within the adipocyte-like structures. Therefore, it is anticipated that this autonomous generation of hierarchical multicompartments represents a breakthrough compared to the traditional bottom-up strategies, and the artificial life systems we studied could contribute a chemical-based strategy of understanding the process of lipid droplet growth and fusion inside a living adipocyte cell.