Engineering Life: Chemists Have Created the Functional Synthetic Cells That Act Like Real Ones
Engineering Life: Chemists Have Created the Functional Synthetic Cells That Act Like Real Ones
Researchers employ cutting-edge methods to create functional cells, closing the divide between synthetic and biological materials. In a new study published in Nature Chemistry, UNC-Chapel Hill researcher Ronit Freeman and her colleagues describe the steps they took to manipulate DNA and proteins —
The engineering of artificial cells requires a reconfigurable cytoskeleton that can organize at distinct locations and dynamically modulate its structural and mechanical properties. This study combines peptide self-assembly with DNA programmability to realize a synthetic cytoskeleton in droplets showing that programmable peptide–DNA nanotechnology approach is a powerful platform towards the construction of functional, fully artificial cells.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-024-01509-w (open access)
I know no microscopic biology but I imagine other natural cells encountering such a cell and recoiling from it the same way dogs who sniff a robot dog and sense nothing are legit highly freaked out 😂
Uncanny valley but for cells.
Didn't Venter's lab do something like this already 10 ish years ago?
Not quite. I think you may be referring to their genome transplant. They used a natural cell and completely replaced the original genome with synthesized DNA. Whereas this project did not rely on existing cellular machinery.