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Towards Self‐Assembled Hybrid Artificial Cells: Novel Bottom‐Up Approaches to Functional Synthetic Membranes
Author(s) -
Brea Roberto J.,
Hardy Michael D.,
Devaraj Neal K.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201501229
Subject(s) - synthetic biology , artificial cell , synthetic polymer , nanotechnology , membrane , supramolecular chemistry , living systems , artificial life , computer science , artificial intelligence , materials science , biology , chemistry , computational biology , polymer , composite material , genetics , crystal structure , crystallography
There has been increasing interest in utilizing bottom‐up approaches to develop synthetic cells. A popular methodology is the integration of functionalized synthetic membranes with biological systems, producing “hybrid” artificial cells. This Concept article covers recent advances and the current state‐of‐the‐art of such hybrid systems. Specifically, we describe minimal supramolecular constructs that faithfully mimic the structure and/or function of living cells, often by controlling the assembly of highly ordered membrane architectures with defined functionality. These studies give us a deeper understanding of the nature of living systems, bring new insights into the origin of cellular life, and provide novel synthetic chassis for advancing synthetic biology.