Untangling the macromolecular dynamics of (syn)cells: insights into the nature of the prokaryotic cytoplasm and the design of synthetic cells

This thesis has two parts. The first part describes investigations of the physiology of the prokaryotic cytoplasm. It presents an overview of the current state of knowledge on the spatiotemporal organization of the prokaryotic cytoplasm, with two chapters dedicated to research on native and non-native protein diffusion in the cytoplasm. The part concludes that the complex mass is the main determinant of the native protein diffusion and that the protein surface proteins can greatly affect its mobility through binding to other cytoplasmic components. The second part of the thesis deals with the design and physicochemical nature of modern and future synthetic cells. A short overview of the state-of-the-art is presented, and the part discusses in detail the physicochemical considerations for the design of synthetic cells.