Chasing Synthetic Life: A Tale of Forms, Chemical Fossils, and Biomorphs

Abstract

This Essay focuses briefly on early studies elaborated by natural and chemical philosophers, and the once‐called synthetic biologists, who postulated the transition from inanimate to animate matter and even foresaw the possibility of creating artificial life on the basis of physical and chemical principles only. Such ideas and speculations, ranging from soundness to weirdness, paved however the way to current developments in areas like abiotic pattern formation, cell compartmentalization, biomineralization, or the origin of life itself. In particular, the generation of biomorphs and their relationship to microfossils represents an active research domain and seems to be the logical way to bring the historical work up to the future, as some scientists are trying to make artificial cells. The last sections of this essay will also highlight modern science aimed at understanding what life is and, whether or not, it can be redefined in chemical terms.

Detergent-Free Functionalization of Hybrid Vesicles with Membrane Proteins Using SMALPs

“…Vesicles made of natural or synthetic lipids (liposomes) are a suitable platform for mimicking membrane structures and functions found in nature. , Liposomes have been widely exploited to fabricate artificial compartments in bottom-up synthetic biology (artificial cells and organelles) and nanoreactors in compartmentalized (photo)­catalysis. , Functionalization of liposomes in biotechnology is achieved by the reconstitution of membrane proteins (MPs), which in spite of their complex amphiphilic nature, have an increasing number of promising applications in areas such as drug discovery, vaccines, biosensors, and energy conversion . However, the application of proteoliposomes is still hampered by the lack of chemical and physical long-term stability (typically days) and the complexity of purification and reconstitution of MPs. , …”