A Role for Bottom-Up Synthetic Cells in the Internet of Bio-Nano Things?

Abstract

The potential role of bottom-up Synthetic Cells (SCs) in the Internet of Bio-Nano Things (IoBNT) is discussed. In particular, this perspective paper focuses on the growing interest in networks of biological and/or artificial objects at the micro- and nanoscale (cells and subcellular parts, microelectrodes, microvessels, etc.), whereby communication takes place in an unconventional manner, i.e., via chemical signaling. The resulting “molecular communication” (MC) scenario paves the way to the development of innovative technologies that have the potential to impact biotechnology, nanomedicine, and related fields. The scenario that relies on the interconnection of natural and artificial entities is briefly introduced, highlighting how Synthetic Biology (SB) plays a central role. SB allows the construction of various types of SCs that can be designed, tailored, and programmed according to specific predefined requirements. In particular, “bottom-up” SCs are briefly described by commenting on the principles of their design and fabrication and their features (in particular, the capacity to exchange chemicals with other SCs or with natural biological cells). Although bottom-up SCs still have low complexity and thus basic functionalities, here, we introduce their potential role in the IoBNT. This perspective paper aims to stimulate interest in and discussion on the presented topics. The article also includes commentaries on MC, semantic information, minimal cognition, wetware neuromorphic engineering, and chemical social robotics, with the specific potential they can bring to the IoBNT.

Molecular Communication Approaches for Wetware Artificial Life: A Workshop Report

“…As mentioned above, it is typically developed within synthetic biology and systems chemistry, and its roots go back to origin-of-life research. In particular, the central idea is the construction of artificial cells (ACs) intended as models of modern or ancient biological cells [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15], or as biotechnological tools for novel applications [16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. The core idea of synthesizing an AC can be implemented by different approaches.…”

“…The resulting concept of molecular communication (MC) [36] is currently widely explored at the theoretical and experimental levels. Moreover, considering the possibility of interfacing artificial biological entities with each other, and with electronic devices too, the technological scenario of Internet of Bio-Nano Things (IoBNT) has been put forward [17,37,38]-highlighting its potential relevance for future nanomedicine applications. (a) Artificial cells can be constructed by co-encapsulating molecules such as DNA, proteins, ribosomes, tRNA, amino acids, nucleotides, and metabolites in artificial micro-compartments often made of self-assembled lipids (liposomes).…”

Tracing a new path in the field of AI and robotics: mimicking human intelligence through chemistry. Part II: systems chemistry

“…When the edges are strong enough, a sort of swarm or collective intelligence ( Couzin, 2007 ; Watson and Levin, 2023 ) exhibiting Bayesian inference might emerge. Such powerful webs of synthetic cells might also establish strong connections with living cells and originate the so-called Internet of Bio-Nano Things (IoBNTs; Stano et al, 2023 ). The hybrid and collective intelligence of the IoBNTs promises to have a plethora of applications ( Akyildiz, et al, 2015 ; Kuscu and Unluturk, 2021 ), such as diagnosis and therapies for human health and control and cleaning in natural ecosystems or urban areas.…”

Chemical Systems for Wetware Artificial Life: Selected Perspectives in Synthetic Cell Research

“…SB, in particular, is the preferred discipline for the construction of artificial living systems. SB encompasses a series of approaches, reviewed in [ 13 ], which include (i) the modification of extant organisms by “rewiring” their inner metabolic or genetic regulatory networks, mainly for bio-production and bio-sensing purposes; (ii) the insertion in a living cell of a whole genome, having minimal size and generated in artificial manner, in order to explore the minimal complexity of cellular life; (iii) various cell-free methods, including in vitro protein synthesis, biochemical reconstitutions, and micro-compartmentation technologies. The latter techniques, and others, allow the construction of synthetic or artificial cells (SCs/ACs) from scratch ( Figure 2 a), aiming at (a) developing molecular, supramolecular, or cell-like biotechnological tools; (b) constructing simplified models of living cells; (c) exploring the emergence and the origin of life in the laboratory (some types of SCs/ACs are recognized as “protocells”, i.e., primitive cell models).…”

“…The field of nano-medicine has been already identified as one of the most appropriate for developing new SC-based biotechnology due to the potential use of SCs as “smart” drug delivery agents [ 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 ], as biosensors, as tools for bioassays [ 49 ]. Bottom-up SCs (and SCs in general) can also play a decisive role in the frontier scenario called the “Internet of Bio-Nano Things” (IoBNT) [ 13 ]. The latter has been put forward by communication engineers interested in Molecular Communication (MC), and focuses on nano- and microscale artificial elements (parts, devices, systems) communicating with each other.…”