Article

Artificial assembly of a minimal cell.

Centro Enrico Fermi, Piazza del Viminale 1, 00184, Rome, Italy.
Molecular BioSystems (impact factor: 3.53). 11/2009; 5(11):1292-7. DOI:10.1039/b906541e
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Synthetic Biology approaches can assemble and/or reconstruct cell parts in synthetic compartments. A minimal cell as a model for early living cells can be artificially constructed in the laboratory resuming the main properties of a basic cell living system: a synthetic cell compartment or liposome to host a minimal metabolism based on protein synthesis, and a shell and core reproduction mechanism, all in an artificial cell assembly and remaining in the realm of minimal living. It is becoming realistic to construct artificial cells, starting from a minimal cell assembly, and deliver cell-like bioreactors to synthesize pure proteins/enzymes or isolate single pathways. These artificial cell-like systems could perform different tasks in antimicrobial drug development, drug delivery and diagnostic applications.

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Keywords

antimicrobial drug development
 
artificial cell assembly
 
artificial cell-like systems
 
artificial cells
 
basic cell
 
cell parts
 
cell-like bioreactors
 
core reproduction mechanism
 
diagnostic applications
 
liposome
 
main properties
 
minimal cell
 
minimal cell assembly
 
minimal metabolism
 
synthesize pure proteins/enzymes
 
synthetic cell compartment
 

Giovanni Murtas