Synthetic biology, inspired by synthetic chemistry

Malinova, Violeta; Nallani, Madhavan; Meier, Wolfgang; Sinner, Eva‐Kathrin

doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2012.05.033

Cited by 37 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 169 publications

(232 reference statements)

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“…The construction of typical artificial cells is considered as one of the pillars of synthetic biology [8,9]. Research on these synthetic cells has many purposes, such as (i) providing a way to investigate and understand cellular life; (ii) connecting the non-living with the living world; (iii) adding new functions which are absent in biological cells for the development of new applications; (iv) providing plausible theory for the origin of life.…”

Section: Typical Artificial Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Artificial cells: from basic science to applications

2016

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Artificial cells have attracted much attention as substitutes for natural cells. There are many different forms of artificial cells with many different definitions. They can be integral biological cell imitators with cell-like structures and exhibit some of the key characteristics of living cells. Alternatively, they can be engineered materials that only mimic some of the properties of cells, such as surface characteristics, shapes, morphology, or a few specific functions. These artificial cells can have applications in many fields from medicine to environment, and may be useful in constructing the theory of the origin of life. However, even the simplest unicellular organisms are extremely complex and synthesis of living artificial cells from inanimate components seems very daunting. Nevertheless, recent progress in the formulation of artificial cells ranging from simple protocells and synthetic cells to cell-mimic particles, suggests that the construction of living life is now not an unrealistic goal. This review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of the latest developments in the construction and application of artificial cells, as well as highlight the current problems, limitations, challenges and opportunities in this field.

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Section: Typical Artificial Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Artificial cells: from basic science to applications

2016

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“…have the potential to replace liposomes in biomolecule encapsulation for drug delivery applications [16][17][18][19][20] , for incorporating proteins in their bilayer for creating artificial cells 14,[21][22][23][24] and as design elements in ion- 25,26 and water selective biomimetic membranes [27][28][29][30][31] .…”

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confidence: 99%

Selecting analytical tools for characterization of polymersomes in aqueous solution

Habel

Ogbonna²,

Larsen

et al. 2015

RSC Adv.

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Selecting the appropriate analytical methods for characterizing the assembly and morphology of polymer-based vesicles, or polymersomes are required to reach their full potential in biotechnology. This work presents and compares 17 different techniques for their ability to adequately report size, lamellarity, elastic properties, bilayer surface charge, thickness and polarity of polybutadienepolyethylene oxide (PB-PEO) based polymersomes. The techniques used in this study are broadly divided into scattering techniques, visualization methods, physical and electromagnetical manipulation, sorting/purification, and simulation tools. Of the analytical methods tested, Cryo-TEM and AFM turned out to be advantageous for polymersomes with smaller diameter than 200 nm, whereas confocal microscopy is ideal for diameters > 400nm. Polymersomes in the intermediate diameter range can be characterized using FF-Cryo-SEM and NTA. SAXS provides reliable data on bilayer thickness and internal structure, Cryo-TEM on multilamellarity. Taken together, these tools are valuable for characterizing polymersomes per se but the comparative overview is also intended to serve as a starting point for selecting methods for characterizing polymersomes with encapsulated compounds or polymersomes with incorporated biomolecules (e.g. membrane proteins).

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“…88, 89 This area of synthetic genetics may be one place where the top-down genetic engineering discipline of synthetic biology discussed here intersects with the branch that extrapolates from synthetic organic chemistry to build complex life-like systems from the ground up. 90 Although there are clearly ethical issues and technical challenges with editing the sequence and function of the human genome on a large scale, it may become possible in the not-so-distant future to achieve reduced mutation rates in humans with great medical benefits. Re-engineering known fragile sequences in the human genome, or perhaps administering anti-evolutionary drugs that 'overclock' native DNA repair processes, could reduce the incidence of inherited genetic diseases and neoplastic cancers, 91 for example.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engineering reduced evolutionary potential for synthetic biology

2014

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The field of synthetic biology seeks to engineer reliable and predictable behaviors in organisms from collections of standardized genetic parts. However, unlike other types of machines, genetically encoded biological systems are prone to changes in their designed sequences due to mutations in their DNA sequences after these devices are constructed and deployed. Thus, biological engineering efforts can be confounded by undesired evolution that rapidly breaks the functions of parts and systems, particularly when they are costly to the host cell to maintain. Here, we explain the fundamental properties that determine the evolvability of biological systems. Then, we use this framework to review current efforts to engineer the DNA sequences that encode synthetic biology devices and the genomes of their microbial hosts to reduce their ability to evolve and therefore increase their genetic reliability so that they maintain their intended functions over longer timescales.

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Synthetic biology, inspired by synthetic chemistry

Abstract: We like to give an overview about the developments in the field of synthetic biology, regarding polymer‐based analogs of cellular membranes and what questions can be answered by applying synthetic polymer science towards the smallest unit in life, namely a cell.

Cited by 37 publications

References 169 publications

Artificial cells: from basic science to applications

Artificial cells: from basic science to applications

Selecting analytical tools for characterization of polymersomes in aqueous solution

Engineering reduced evolutionary potential for synthetic biology

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