Interaction of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction with phospholipid engineered membranes

Compartmentalized in liposome arrays, the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) oscillatory reaction might represent a good model for biochemical networks. In order to engineer such liposomes, we used small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) to study the effect of individual BZ reactant as well as of the entire BZ mixture on the structural properties of lipid layer(s) formed by 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) phospholipids in aqueous media. These properties were compared with those of lipid layers doped with myristic acid (Myr-A), sodium tetradecyl sulfate (STS), and cholesterol (CHOL). In parallel, the effect on the BZ reaction exerted by doped DMPC liposomes was investigated by UV-vis spectroscopy, followed by image analysis of the recorded time series. SAXS experiments showed that chemical species involved in the BZ reaction bring small changes to the internal structure of DMPC bilayers. However, ferroin can reduce the liposome lamellarity by being adsorbed on the surface of lipid layers. Also, the presence of charged dopants such as STS and TA tends to reduce the lamellarity of liposomes, while CHOL brings marked changes in the BZ system due to chemical reaction with oxidant species. In particular, an increase of the oscillation frequency is observed when the BZ reaction is carried out in the presence of CHOL-DMPC liposomes. For this behavior, a possible explanation supported by numerical simulations is bromination of CHOL double bonds by BZ intermediates

Microfluidic compartmentalization of diffusively coupled oscillators in multisomes induces a novel synchronization scenario

International audienceStable cell like multisomes encapsulating the inorganic chemical oscillator Belousov-Zhabotinsky were engineered and organized in a linear network of diffusively-coupled chemical oscillators by using microlfuidics. The multi-compartmentalization and the spatial configuration resulted in a new global synchronization scenario. After an initial induction interval, all the oscillators started to pulsate in phase with a halved period respect to the natural one

Interaction of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky Reaction with Phospholipid Engineered Membranes

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Functionalized Clay Microparticles as Catalysts for Chemical Oscillators

Catalytic micro- and nanoparticles are widely employed to study the global behavior of large networks of coupled chemical oscillators. In this paper, we present a new class of catalysts for the BZ oscillating reaction, based on the functionalization of natural inorganic materials (1:1 and 2:1 clays) through the sorption of the iron-complex ferroin on their surface. The small size of the clay basic units (diameter < 2 μm) and their colloidal nature make these particles interesting for studying systems having dimensions at the border between the nano- and the mesoscale. In the first part of this paper, we present the synthesis and the characterization of the ferroin-functionalized clay. We then show an extensive study on the oscillatory dynamics of the BZ reaction catalyzed by the clay. Through a direct comparison with a classical ferroin-catalyzed BZ system, we describe the modifications of the oscillation mechanisms induced by the new catalyst. Finally, we illustrate an application of the microparticles as a solid support for the study of synchronization in a network of independent chemical oscillators, showing that the diffusion of intermediate species can be fine-tuned through the stirring rate of the solution where the catalytic spots are soaked. The global system can be thus switched from a noncoupled to a coupled state

Towards EXtreme scale technologies and accelerators for euROhpc hw/Sw supercomputing applications for exascale: The TEXTAROSSA approach

In the near future, Exascale systems will need to bridge three technology gaps to achieve high performance while remaining under tight power constraints: energy efficiency and thermal control; extreme computation efficiency via HW acceleration and new arithmetic; methods and tools for seamless integration of reconfigurable accelerators in heterogeneous HPC multi-node platforms. TEXTAROSSA addresses these gaps through a co-design approach to heterogeneous HPC solutions, supported by the integration and extension of HW and SW IPs, programming models, and tools derived from European research