Intracellular supramolecular self-assembly regulates cellular function

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A key strategy for introducing synthetic biocompatible macromolecules is supramolecular self-assembly. The nature, behavior, and function of synthetic macromolecules are similar to those in living systems.

The in cellulo self-assembled macromolecules can be used to overcome and avoid complicated biological reactions in living cells.

The researchers from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology reviewed recent progress in applications and strategies that induce the self-assembly of macromolecules with different topological structures in the fields of cancer treatment and bioimaging.

The review was published in an international edition.

Host-guest interaction, pH, temperature, and free radical polymerization are some of the strategies included. They were motivated by external stimuli or internal conditions in tumors, and were used to abstract in cellulo biomacromolecules like polyamine, adenosine triphosphate, biolabeling, and bioimaging.

The overexpressed pH, reactive oxygen species, and enzymes were used as a tool to induce cellulo supramolecular self-assembly in tumors. Synthetic macromolecules with different structures like gel, nanoparticles, and coils were introduced by external stimuli like temperature effect.

The macromolecules were constructed using the physical liquid-liquid phase separation. The subcellular organelles are used to abstract biomacromolecules.

The study said that the tweezers could be widely used in the future. A class of molecule containing two binding arms is called amolecular tweezers and is used as a biosensor, syntheticreceptor, and drug delivery system for pharmaceutical applications. There are few studies on its application in living cells.

The article is titled "Suspermolecular Selfassembly in Living Cells" in the Angewandte Chemie International Edition. There is a DOI for 10.1002/anie.202114267.

The journal information is from the Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

The news about supramolecular self-assembly regulates cellular function was retrieved fromphys.org on January 18.

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