Reconstruction of Cytotoxic Bacterial Protein Assemblies in Lipid Vesicles

Abstract Biochemistry is at the core of constructive bottom-up approaches in synthetic biology aiming to generate a minimal cell. Any sort of cellular organization depends on compartmentalization of macromolecular assemblies and machineries within lipid, or amphiphilic lipid-like, vesicles. Following the increasing interest in the use of liposomes as cytomimetic devices, here we discuss our achievements toward using liposomes, especially giant unilamellar vesicles, as containers to reconstitute the amyloidogenic aggregation of the cytotoxic prionoid (prion-like protein) RepA-WH1. We address relevant issues as the importance of lipid composition and the effect or cofactors on assembly, and the feasibility of achieving protein expression within vesicles.