DNA polymerization on the inner surface of a giant liposome for synthesizing an artificial cell model

We have designed a new artificial cell model consisting of a giant liposome, an enzyme, and DNA conjugated with a cholesterol tag by a poly(ethylene glycol) spacer to characterize the model system. The cholesterol tag of the conjugated molecule was anchored to the inner surface of the giant liposome and the single-stranded DNA unit hybridized with a 100-mer template DNA that was added to the water pool inside the liposome. We found that the DNA unit acted as a primer, DNA polymerization proceeded on the inner surface of the liposome. This reaction was a key step of our cell model. Production of a full-length strand was proved by selective cleavage of the polymerized DNA by a restriction enzyme.