Physicists Develop World'S First Artificial Cell-Like Spheres from Natural Proteins (IMAGE)
Caption
Hydrophobins are a family of naturally occurring proteins with a hydrophilic part (blue) and a hydrophobic part (red). Like lipids, they form molecular bilayers and vesicles, which are small spherical structures with an outer bilayer boundary. In an aqueous environment (light blue), all of the water-repellent parts of the protein are located in the inside of the bilayer. In fatty or oily environments (yellow) the situation is reversed. As a result the interior of a vesicle can represent a protected space for transporting molecules that would otherwise be insoluble in the external (aqueous or oil-based) environment.
Credit
AG Jacobs
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