Complex coacervates are water droplets dispersed in water, which are formed by spontaneous liquid–liquid phase separation of an aqueous solution of two oppositely charged polyelectrolytes. Similar to the membraneless organelles that exist in biological cells, complex coacervate droplets are membraneless and have a myriad of features including easy formation, high viscosity, selective encapsulation of biomolecules, and dynamic behaviors in response to environmental stimuli, which make coacervates an excellent option for constructing artificial membraneless organelles. In this article, I first summarize recent advances in artificial compartments that are built from coacervates and their response to changes in the surrounding environment and then show the advantages of microfluidic techniques in the preparation of monodisperse coacervates and encapsulation of coacervates in droplets and liposomes to construct complex cell-like compartments, and finally discuss the future challenges of such membraneless aqueous compartments in cell mimics and origin of life.

中文翻译：

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复合凝聚层作为人造无膜细胞器和原始细胞。


复杂凝聚层是分散在水中的水滴，是由两种带相反电荷的聚电解质的水溶液自发液-液相分离形成的。与生物细胞中存在的无膜细胞器类似，复杂凝聚层液滴是无膜的，并且具有多种特征，包括易于形成、高粘度、生物分子的选择性封装以及响应环境刺激的动态行为，这使得凝聚层成为构建人工无膜细胞器。在本文中，我首先总结了由凝聚层构建的人工隔室及其对周围环境变化的响应的最新进展，然后展示了微流控技术在制备单分散凝聚层以及将凝聚层封装在液滴和脂质体中以构建复杂的细胞样区室，最后讨论了这种无膜水区室在细胞模拟和生命起源中的未来挑战。