Artificial cells capable of movement

Scientists in Japan report progress towards giving artificial cells another life characteristic - the ability to utilize an energy source - oil droplets - to carry out continuous movement 

Scientists in Japan report progress towards giving artificial cells another life characteristic - the ability to utilize an energy source to perform continuous movement. Their research describes oil droplets (used as a model for artificial cells) moving independently thanks to a chemical "fuel".

The Japanese scientists (Tadashi Sugawara, Taro Toyota) and their colleagues point out in the new study that researchers have been trying for many years to find a method to produce oil droplets that are able to move in a controlled manner from one point to another. Despite the development of several promising approaches for this, researchers have never found an optimal method that can be controlled easily and efficiently.

The new study describes the development of oil droplets equipped with chemical "engines" - highly active catalysts - which provide them with independent movement in the presence of chemical "fuel". This fuel contains unique substances that are active in the presence of the catalyst. When the researchers placed these droplets in an aqueous solution containing the fuel, the droplets moved in a controlled manner towards the areas where there was a high concentration of the fuel.

The researchers also note that when another droplet approaches another moving droplet, it is caught in the trail of debris released from the first droplet. Then, the two droplets move cooperatively. When the amount of fuel declined the drops slowed their movement to a complete stop.

The aforementioned research constitutes a type of promising plan for the design and development of similar mobile systems within artificial cells, the researchers note.

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