Authors
Panagiotis Mougkogiannis, Andrew Adamatzky
Published in
ACS applied bio materials. Nov 12, 2026. Epub Nov 12, 2026.
Abstract
Polymers predate cellular life and may have interacted with primitive cells. However, the electrical properties of such interfaces remain poorly understood. Here, we constructed and characterised a proteinoid-algal interface. Thermal proteinoids (Glu:Phe:Asp:Cys, 2:1:1:1) were synthesised at 170-200 °C. They were mixed with living internodal cells of the charophyte alga Nitella at 10:90 v/v. The system was characterised by open-circuit potentiometry for 12.1 days. Impedance spectroscopy was conducted from 0.1 Hz to 1 MHz. Cyclic voltammetry was performed over ±1.0 V. Impedance was also monitored at 1 kHz for 5.6 h. The hybrid showed distinct electrical behaviour. Its impedance was described by the same three-arc circuit used for Nitella. In contrast, the proteinoid required a finite-length Warburg element (TW = 16.1 s). The selected model for the hybrid did not require this element under the measured conditions. This is consistent with the proteinoid loading the living network rather than adding a resolvable transport pathway, but does not exclude one. Both materials showed hysteretic switching during cycling. However, only Nitella reached a stable charge ratio (Qa/Qc = 0.97 after eight cycles). The proteinoid retained an imbalanced ratio of 0.81. The living preparations also generated impulsive events and transient inductive responses. These responses cannot arise from a purely capacitive network. No inductive event was detected among 1.7 × 104 proteinoid measurements. The abiotic polymer therefore acted neither as an inert coating nor as an equivalent electrical component. Instead, it imposed an additional load on the living system.
PMID:
43019475
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 13 Nov 2026.
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