Biosynthesis within a bubble architecture

Sub-cellular compartmentalization is critical to life; it minimizes diffusion effects and enables locally high concentrations of biochemicals for improved reaction kinetics. We demonstrate an example of in vitro biochemical synthesis inside the water channels of foam using engineered artificial organelles (bacteriorhodopsin and F0F1-ATP synthase reconstituted polymer vesicles) as functional units to produce ATP. These results show that the interstitial space of bubbles serves as a metaphor for sub-cellular structure, providing a new platform for both investigating cellular metabolism and the engineering of biofunctional materials and systems.