Artificial organelle: ATP synthesis from cellular mimetic polymersomes.

A complex cellular process was reconstructed using a multiprotein polymersome system. ATP has been produced by coupled reactions between bacteriorhodopsin, a light-driven transmembrane proton pump, and F(0)F(1)-ATP synthase motor protein, reconstituted in polymersomes. This indicates that ATP synthase maintained its ATP synthesis and therefore its motor activity in the artificial membranes. This hybrid proteopolymersome will have wide application in a number of fields ranging from the in vitro investigation of cellular metabolism to the synthesis of functional "smart" materials.