Fig. 5: Developing functional prototissues assembled from protocells.

CLSM images of prototissues, A macroscopic, B edge, C middle view, and D middle view of exoskeleton-DNA fiber (F) cross-linked prototissues, protocell exoskeleton (magenta channels, top row), cytoskeleton (green channels, bottom row) and insets, left to right, macroscopic image of cross-linked DNA fibers (gray), multi-layered prototissue, and schematic representations without and with cross-linking. E Particle tracking analysis of prototissues, end position (green circles) and tracks (gray lines) with annotated prototissue edge (black line). F Prototissue surface area dot plot in the absence or presence of evaporative induced convection (EIC), with and without bovine serum albumin (BSA). Line and error bars represent the mean and standard deviation, respectively, obtained from four independent repeats. G Plot of prototissue surface area with increasing protocell volume deposited in droplet, circles and error bars represent the mean and range respectively, obtained from three independent repeats. H Prototissue surface area growth over time with (magenta line) and without (green line) exoskeletons. Cross-linked prototissues showing, I DNA fiber co-localization sum fluorescence dot plot, line and error bars represent the mean and standard deviation, respectively, obtained from 799 measurements from single a experiment, protocell J circularity dot plot, obtained from 104 measurements obtained from a single experiment, K junction length dot plot obtained from 47 measurements, line and error bars represent the mean value and standard deviation, respectively, obtained from a single experiment, and L FRAP profiles comparing prototissues with and without cross-linking DNA fibers obtained from a single experiment.