Fig. 1: Conceptual roadmap for chemically programmable coacervate protocells driven by in-droplet chemistry.
From: Recent advances in coacervate protocells from passive catalysts to chemically programmable systems
Chemical and physical inputs (e.g., composition, stimuli, fuels) tune local reactivity control to concentrate and steer small-molecule and enzymatic reactions and gene expression. Such chemistry can also write material, spatial, and temporal states (shells/scaffolds, nucleus-like domains/vacuoles, fuel-pulse–set lifetimes) and can yield external readouts that enable communication with protocells, living systems, and the environment.
