Building Spatial Synthetic Biology with Compartments, Scaffolds, and Communities

Traditional views of synthetic biology often treat the cell as an unstructured container in which biological reactions proceed uniformly. In reality, the organization of biological molecules has profound effects on cellular function: not only metabolic, but also physical and mechanical. Here, we discuss a variety of perturbations available to biologists in controlling protein, nucleotide, and membrane localization. These range from simple tags, fusions, and scaffolds to heterologous expression of compartments and other structures that confer unique physical properties to cells. Next, we relate these principles to those guiding the spatial environments outside of cells such as the extracellular matrix. Finally, we discuss new directions in building intercellular organizations to create novel symbioses.