Bioactive cell-like hybrids coassembled from (glyco)dendrimersomes with bacterial membranes.

A library of amphiphilic Janus dendrimers including two that are fluorescent and one glycodendrimer presenting lactose were used to construct giant dendrimersomes and glycodendrimersomes. Coassembly with the components of bacterial membrane vesicles by a dehydration-rehydration process generated giant cell-like hybrid vesicles, whereas the injection of their ethanol solution into PBS produced monodisperse nanometer size assemblies. These hybrid vesicles contain transmembrane proteins including a small membrane protein, MgrB, tagged with a red fluorescent protein, lipopolysaccharides, and glycoproteins from the bacterium Escherichia coli.