Scientists Create World's First Synthetic Cells Capable of Growth and Replication
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- University of Minnesota scientists have developed the first synthetic cells, named SpudCell, that can feed, grow, and replicate.
- This breakthrough mimics fundamental life functions using chemistry, paving the way for creating life from non-living components, though the cells still require external support.
KI-generierte Zusammenfassung
Marking a breakthrough in biological engineering, researchers claim to have created the world’s first synthetic cells that can feed, grow and replicate like a natural cell, taking a big step towards the holy grail of making a living organism out of non-living components.
Developed by University of Minnesota scientists under a project called SpudCell, the work could in time lead to made-to-order living machines. “We’ve replicated in chemistry what only used to be possible in biology: the complete set of behaviours of a cell. It proves that fundamental functions of life, like growth and replication, don’t need a mysterious magical spark,” said Kate Adamala, who led the effort, in a note released by the varsity.
SpudCell: Genetic change helped cells grow faster
But experts said it’s the most compelling demonstration yet that it is possible to generate life from non-life. “This work is just the beginning. We are showing it’s possible to engineer the basic functions of the cell. To fully realise the promise of this technology — to make it robust and practical — we need combined international effort,” Adamala said.
SpudCell is a pared down version of a living cell. While natural cells divide using internal scaffolding called a cytoskeleton, the synthetic cell sidesteps the need for a cytoskeleton with proteins that crowd together on the membrane surface until the mechanical stress makes the membrane split. Researchers introduced a genetic change that increased production of fusion protein, resulting in cells that grew faster and produced more offspring. After five generations, the faster-growing variant had out-competed the original, the university said.
While a human genome is roughly 3 million kilobase pairs (kbp) in size, SpudCell’s genome is relatively tiny at 90 kbp. Rather than a single chromosome, the genome is split across seven separate DNA plasmids, allowing the team to “program” various functions of the cell independently.