Temperature-Promoted Giant Unilamellar Vesicle (GUV) Aggregation: A Way of Multicellular Formation

Abstract

The evolution of unicellular to multicellular life is considered to be an important step in the origin of life, and it is crucial to study the influence of environmental factors on this process through cell models in the laboratory. In this paper, we used giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) as a cell model to investigate the relationship between environmental temperature changes and the evolution of unicellular to multicellular life. The zeta potential of GUVs and the conformation of the headgroup of phospholipid molecules at different temperatures were examined using phase analysis light scattering (PALS) and attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), respectively. In addition, the effect of increasing temperature on the aggregation of GUVs was further investigated in ionic solutions, and the possible mechanisms involved were explored. The results showed that increasing temperature reduced the repulsive forces between cells models and promoted their aggregation. This study could effectively contribute to our understanding of the evolution of primitive unicellular to multicellular life.

Keywords

• giant unilamellar vesicles
• aggregation
• phospholipid
• zeta potential
• headgroup reorientation