From protocells to prototissues: a materials chemistry approach
Open accessAbstract
Prototissues comprise free-standing 3D networks of interconnected protocell consortia that communicate and display synergistic functions. Significantly, they can be constructed from functional molecules and materials, providing unprecedented opportunities to design tissue-like architectures that can do more than simply mimic living tissues. They could function under extreme conditions and exhibit a wide range of mechanical properties and bio-inspired metabolic functions. In this perspective, I will start by describing recent advancements in the design and synthetic construction of prototissues. I will then discuss the next challenges and the future impact of this emerging research field, which is destined to find applications in the most diverse areas of science and technology, from biomedical science to environmental science, and soft robotics.
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Coacervates are microcompartments that have shown many responsive behaviors.
“Coacervates are also interesting microcompartments which have shown many responsive behavior (Gobbo, 2020; Gao et al., 2021; Yin et al., 2023)”
From Wetware network-based AI: a chemical approach to embodied cognition for robotics and artificial intelligence (2026) · cites this paper as Gobbo, 2020
The Introduction and the section on chemo-mechanical transduction describe responsive proteinosomes, prototissue spheroids and hydrogel droplet networks, but not coacervates. A search of our full-text copy for “coacervate” found no passage addressing whether coacervates exhibit responsive behaviors; the findings for other compartments cannot establish this claim. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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- Hart, Y., Antebi, Y.E., Mayo, A.E., Friedman, N. and Alon, U. (2012) Design principles of cell circuits with paradoxical components. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.
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Functional prototissues using artificial cells as building blocks and their biomedical applications
Zhang, X., Li, C., Yang, B., Wang, W., Zhao, J., Zhao, W., Dong, M., & Han, X. (2024) · Advanced Functional Materials · doi:10.1002/adfm.202405823 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Matching together living cells and prototissues: will there Be chemistry?
Valente, S., Galanti, A., Maghin, E., Najdi, N., Piccoli, M., & Gobbo, P. (2024) · ChemBioChem · doi:10.1002/cbic.202400378 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Self-citationDamiano, L., Fleres, A., Roli, A., & Stano, P. (2026) · Frontiers in Robotics and AI · doi:10.3389/frobt.2025.1694338 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Coacervates are also interesting microcompartments which have shown many responsive behavior (Gobbo, 2020; Gao et al., 2021; Yin et al., 2023), as well as oil droplets do (Hanczyc and Ikegami, 2010; Parilla Gutierrez et al., 2014; Čejková et al., 2017).”
- Authors
- Gobbo, P.
- Affiliations
- University of Bristol (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Gobbo, Pierangelo
- ORCID
- Gobbo, Pierangelo
- Venue
- Biochemical Society Transactions
- Publisher
- Portland Press Ltd.
- Published
- 2020-11-06
- Volume
- 48
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 2579-2589
- ISSN
- 0300-5127 (ISSN-L)
- 1470-8752
- OpenAlex
- W3097153958
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 0.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- Biochemical Society Transactions (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ArTS Archivio della ricerca di Trieste (University of Trieste https://www.units.it/) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- University of Bristol
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (PJT159580)
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/T01508X/1)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Supramolecular Chemistry and Complexes
- Keywords
- protocells, three-dimensional network, materials chemistry, biomimetic materials, mechanical properties, soft robotics, synthetic biology
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Biopolymers, Cell Nucleus, Chemistry, Computer Simulation, Cytoplasm, Humans, Materials Testing, Neoplasms, Polymers, Structure-Activity Relationship, Virus Diseases, Signal Transduction, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Gene Expression Profiling, Biomimetics, Artificial Cells, Synthetic Biology, Liquid-Liquid Extraction
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