IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-56758-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Synthetic transmembrane DNA receptors enable engineered sensing and actuation

Author

Listed:
  • Ze-Rui Zhou

    (Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials. East China University of Science and Technology
    Joint International Laboratory for Precision Chemistry. East China University of Science and Technology
    Frontiers Science Center for Materiobiology & Dynamic Chemistry. East China University of Science and Technology
    East China University of Science and Technology)

  • Man-Sha Wu

    (Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials. East China University of Science and Technology
    Joint International Laboratory for Precision Chemistry. East China University of Science and Technology
    Frontiers Science Center for Materiobiology & Dynamic Chemistry. East China University of Science and Technology
    East China University of Science and Technology)

  • Zhenglin Yang

    (University of Texas at Austin)

  • Yuting Wu

    (University of Texas at Austin)

  • Weijie Guo

    (University of Texas at Austin)

  • Da-Wei Li

    (Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials. East China University of Science and Technology
    Joint International Laboratory for Precision Chemistry. East China University of Science and Technology
    Frontiers Science Center for Materiobiology & Dynamic Chemistry. East China University of Science and Technology
    East China University of Science and Technology)

  • Ruo-Can Qian

    (Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials. East China University of Science and Technology
    Joint International Laboratory for Precision Chemistry. East China University of Science and Technology
    Frontiers Science Center for Materiobiology & Dynamic Chemistry. East China University of Science and Technology
    East China University of Science and Technology)

  • Yi Lu

    (University of Texas at Austin
    University of Texas at Austin)

Abstract

In living organisms, cells synergistically couple cascade reaction pathways to achieve inter- and intracellular signal transduction by transmembrane protein receptors. The construction and assembly of synthetic receptor analogs that can mimic such biological processes is a central goal of synthetic biochemistry and bionanotechnology to endow receptors with user-defined signal transduction effects. However, designing artificial transmembrane receptors with the desired input, output, and performance parameters are challenging. Here we show that the dimerization of synthetic transmembrane DNA receptors executes a systematically engineered sensing and actuation cascade in response to external molecular signals. The synthetic DNA receptors are composed of three parts, including an extracellular signal reception part, a lipophilic transmembrane anchoring part, and an intracellular signal output part. Upon the input of external signals, the DNA receptors can form dimers on the cell surface triggered by configuration changes, leading to a series of downstream cascade events including communication between donor and recipient cells, gene transcription regulation, protein level control, and cell apoptosis. We believe this work establishes a flexible cell surface engineering strategy that is broadly applicable to implement sophisticated biological functions.

Suggested Citation

  • Ze-Rui Zhou & Man-Sha Wu & Zhenglin Yang & Yuting Wu & Weijie Guo & Da-Wei Li & Ruo-Can Qian & Yi Lu, 2025. "Synthetic transmembrane DNA receptors enable engineered sensing and actuation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-13, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-56758-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56758-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-56758-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-56758-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Henrike Niederholtmeyer & Cynthia Chaggan & Neal K. Devaraj, 2018. "Communication and quorum sensing in non-living mimics of eukaryotic cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-8, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kanji Tomohara & Yoshihiro Minagawa & Hiroyuki Noji, 2025. "Artificial cells with all-aqueous droplet-in-droplet structures for spatially separated transcription and translation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Jin Li & William D. Jamieson & Pantelitsa Dimitriou & Wen Xu & Paul Rohde & Boris Martinac & Matthew Baker & Bruce W. Drinkwater & Oliver K. Castell & David A. Barrow, 2022. "Building programmable multicompartment artificial cells incorporating remotely activated protein channels using microfluidics and acoustic levitation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-56758-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.