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Welcome to the Synthetic Cell Wiki (SynCellWiki). This wiki contains information about synthetic cells and is intended as a reference manual for engineers who are interested in using synthetic cells to engineer biology.

What is a Synthetic Cell?

File:Synthetic-cell.png

The term "synthetic cell" is not well-defined and different groups have used it in different ways over time. Other terms are also used: artificial cells, developer cells, and protocells are some examples. What all of these definitions have in common is the notion of some sort of contained and engineered biomolecular machine that carries out functions similar to that of a living cell. Some of the major categories of synthetic cells include:

• Encapsulated cell-free systems: A system consisting of a container of some sort, with biomolecular machinery inside the contained region that carries out biomolecular functions (transcription, translation, sensing, chemical processing, motility, etc). Synthetic cells in this class can range from very simple artificial vesicles containing a few proteins to complex biomolecular machines that carry out complex functions. As a general rule, synthetic cells in this category are not self-replicating, though they may include mechanisms for assembly into more complex consortia or multi-cellular machines.

• Biomimetic synthetic cells: A system that carries the key functions of a living cell, typically including compartmentalization, replication, and metabolism. These systems do not yet exist, but significant progress has been made on each of the basic functions, often using encapusulated cell-free systems as a starting point. A recent review and roadmap for this class of systems has been written by members of the US Build-A-Cell consortium (Rosthschild et al, 2024).

• Minimal cells: A natural cell that has been heavily modified to utilize a minimized chromosome while still supporting life. The prototypical minimal cell is JCVI-syn3.0, which consists of a modified Mycoplasma mycoides bacteria that has been modified to contain only 531,000 base pairs encoding 473 genes, making it the smallest genome of any self-replicating organism.

In this wiki, we will primarily focus on the technologies involved in the first two classes of synthetic cells, which are often referred to as "bottoms-up" synthetic cells, since they are built from non-living components.

Synthetic Cell Subsystems

We break of up our description of synthetic cells into a set of "subsystems" that are responsible for the primary molecular mechanisms of the cell. Each of these mechanisms is described in more detail on the linked page.

• Cytoplasm: The Cytoplasm Subsystem is responsible for implementing and maintaining the internal environment of the synthetic cell, including key mechanisms such as transcription, translation, and degradation.
• Container: The Container Subsystem is responsible for encapsulating the components of the synthetic cell, as well as supporting transfer of information and materials from the inside of the cell through the appropriate sensing and transport subsystems.
• Transport:
• Sensing:
• Logic:
• Metabolism:

References

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