Divided we stand: splitting synthetic cells for their proliferation

Area of Science:

• Synthetic biology
• Cellular engineering
• Artificial life research

Background:

• The concept of artificial life has been revitalized by advances in synthetic biology, focusing on the bottom-up construction of self-sustaining and proliferating synthetic cells.
• Cellular reproduction requires content synthesis, information module replication, and shell growth and division.
• Natural cell division exhibits diverse mechanisms, suggesting multiple viable engineering strategies for synthetic cells.

Purpose of the Study:

• To survey and review potential routes for achieving the division of bottom-up designed synthetic cells.
• To explore a range of complexities in synthetic cell division mechanisms.

Main Methods:

• Review of theoretical and experimental analyses of natural cell division.
• Survey of abiotic mechanisms for vesicle splitting.
• Exploration of prokaryotic division machineries for synthetic cell engineering.

Main Results:

• Natural cell division, while conserving core information synthesis, employs varied strategies for physical division.
• Potential synthetic cell division routes range from simple physical/chemical vesicle splitting to complex biological machinery integration.

Conclusions:

• Multiple engineering pathways exist for synthetic cell division, reflecting the diversity observed in natural systems.
• Future research can leverage both abiotic and biotic approaches to achieve synthetic cell proliferation.