Scientists Created 'Living' Synthetic Cells by Harvesting Bacteria For Parts

The University of Bristol in the UK has taken a major step forward in synthetic biology by designing a system that performs several key functions of a living cell

Over the first 48 hours of life, their artificially constructed cell changed from a sphere shape to a more natural amoeba-like shape.

Building something that comes close to what we might think of as alive is no walk in the park thanks to the fact that even the simplest of organisms rely on countless biochemical operations.

Scientists used to focus on getting artificial cells to do a single function.

Artificial cells that mimic life more closely could create a wealth of possibilities in everything from manufacturing to medicine.

While some engineering efforts focus on redesigning the blueprints themselves, others are looking at ways to reduce existing cells to scraps that can then be reconstructed into something novel.

Researchers used two colonies of Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa to make parts.

The empty microdroplets were mixed with the twobacteria. One population was captured inside the droplets and the other was trapped in the droplets.

The colonies in lysozyme and melittin come from honeybee venom.

The contents of the bacterium were captured by the droplets and used to create a protective coating on Protocells.

The scientists showed that the cells were capable of complex processing, such as the production of the energy storage molecule.

The bottom-up construction of symbiotic living/synthetic cell constructs is possible with the living-material assembly approach.

It should be possible to make complex modules for development in diagnostic and therapeutic areas of synthetic biology using engineeredbacteria.

In the future, this kind of synthetic cell technology could be used to improve the production of fuels.

A combination of knowledge and advanced models of basic biology would allow us to mix and match some structures while redesigning others.

Artificial cells could be programmed to photosynthesize like purplebacteria or to produce energy from chemicals.

The researchers expect the methodology to respond to high levels of programmability.

The paper was published in a journal.