MINNESOTA — A research team led by Kate Adamala, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota, created a synthetic cell system capable of division and DNA replication. This system, described in a preprint as "SpudCell," was built from chemical compounds rather than modified natural cells.

The synthetic cells are constructed from liposomes containing plasmids and require feeder liposomes to grow, which contain molecules, enzymes, and ribosomes necessary for protein synthesis. SpudCells fuse with these feeder liposomes and operate in a liquid containing adenosine triphosphate (ATP). After five generations, 30% of the synthetic cells still contain the original DNA code. Adamala stated, "What we did is we built a cell-like system that is fully chemically defined, so there are no unknown building blocks in it, and it's capable of doing things that people up until now used to think only natural living cells can do, and I think it's important because we need to engineer biology."

SpudCells require enzymes packaged in liposomes to function and lack a cytoskeleton. Their division results from proteins crowding at the membrane, which forces it to split. The synthetic cells cannot build their own protein-making machinery, control their metabolism, or clear their waste. "It is not as robust, as fast, or as good at most of its functions as a natural cell, but it is proof of principle that molecules can reconstitute behaviours that up until now we only associated with natural living cells," Adamala said.

Tom Ellis, a professor at Imperial College London, who was not involved in the research, noted the significance of such developments. "Making a synthetic cell helps us understand the exact minimum requirements for life and how life might have emerged from chemistry," Ellis said. He further stated, "It's also useful as it provides a fully understood system for testing biological circuits and computer models of cellular life."

The study detailing SpudCell has been released as a preprint and has not yet undergone peer review. Yuval Elani, an associate professor in biochemical technologies at Imperial College London, also not involved in the work, commented on the broader implications. "Building a cell from scratch means you are no longer tied to the constraints and evolutionary baggage of natural biology," Elani said. He continued, "It opens up the possibility of designing systems and programming them to do things that living cells may not do easily, or may not do at all."

Why It Matters

The creation of SpudCell represents a step in understanding the fundamental requirements for life by building a cellular system from scratch. This approach contrasts with modifying existing biological entities, offering a system where all components are chemically defined. The ability of SpudCells to divide and replicate their DNA demonstrates functions previously thought to be exclusive to natural living cells, despite certain limitations in their functionality compared to natural cells. The research aims to provide a controlled environment for studying and engineering biological systems.