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Minimal cells: Relevance and interplay of physical and biochemical factors
Author(s) -
Stano Pasquale
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
biotechnology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.144
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1860-7314
pISSN - 1860-6768
DOI - 10.1002/biot.201100079
Subject(s) - synthetic biology , lipid vesicle , relevance (law) , liposome , artificial cell , population , nanotechnology , biology , vesicle , computational biology , chemistry , membrane , biochemistry , materials science , medicine , environmental health , political science , law
Research on the construction of minimal cell‐like systems is continuously progressing. The aim is to assemble a synthetic or semi‐synthetic cell by encapsulating the minimal set of different macromolecules into a lipid vesicle (liposome). Synthetic cells have their relevance as new biotechnological tool for use in synthetic biology and in research into the origin of life. In recent years, several technical advances have been reported and reviewed, but most deal with the biochemical and molecular biology of protein synthesis inside liposomes, whereas a discussion on the importance and the interplay of some physical factors has not been discussed. In this short review, we comment on physical aspects, such as compartment formation and solute entrapment, and on the nature of lipid membrane. Emphasis is given to their relevance for the technology of construction of synthetic cells, and for new aspects of vesicle population studies.