Strategies and applications of synthetic cell communication

Cell signaling and communication are fundamental to living cellular communities. Over the past two decades, there has been a continuous development of bottom-up engineered synthetic cells, which have become increasingly similar to their natural counterparts. However, we are only scratching the surface with the development of synthetic cellular communities and their integration into natural tissues. Here we review different intercellular communication mechanisms engineered for synthetic cells and classify them based on their resemblance to natural cell signaling mechanisms-autocrine, paracrine and juxtacrine. In particular, we highlight recent advances in molecular tools for intercellular communication strategies and discuss potential applications of engineering synthetic cellular communities and synthetic cell-natural cell communication. With further advances in this area, synthetic cellular communities will be powerful tools for understanding and manipulating cellular functions, thus unlocking potential applications in biosensing, cellular reprogramming and sustainability.