Abil Zhanar, Danelon Christophe
Department of Bionanoscience, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands.
Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2020 Aug 19;8:927. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.00927. eCollection 2020.
Laboratory synthesis of an elementary biological cell from isolated components may aid in understanding of the fundamental principles of life and will provide a platform for a range of bioengineering and medical applications. In essence, building a cell consists in the integration of cellular modules into system's level functionalities satisfying definition of life. To achieve this goal, we propose in this perspective to undertake a semi-rational, system's level evolutionary approach. The strategy would require iterative cycles of genetic integration of functional modules, diversification of hereditary information, compartmentalized gene expression, selection/screening, and possibly, assistance from open-ended evolution. We explore the underlying challenges to each of these steps and discuss possible solutions toward the bottom-up construction of an artificial living cell.
从分离的组件在实验室中合成基本生物细胞，可能有助于理解生命的基本原理，并将为一系列生物工程和医学应用提供一个平台。从本质上讲，构建一个细胞在于将细胞模块整合到满足生命定义的系统级功能中。为实现这一目标，我们在此提出采用一种半理性的、系统级的进化方法。该策略将需要功能模块的遗传整合、遗传信息的多样化、分隔的基因表达、选择/筛选的迭代循环，并且可能需要开放式进化的协助。我们探讨了这些步骤中每一步所面临的潜在挑战，并讨论了自下而上构建人工活细胞的可能解决方案。
