A critical aspect of a synthetic minimal cell is expansion of the surrounding boundary layer. This layer should consist of phospholipids (mimics) as these molecules assemble into a bilayer, creating a functional barrier with specific phospholipid species that are essential for membrane related processes. As a first step towards synthetic cells, an in vitro phospholipid biosynthesis pathway has been constructed that utilizes fatty acids as precursors to produce a wide variety of phospholipid species, thereby driving membrane growth. This now needs to be developed further into a sustainable expanding system, meanwhile keeping simplicity in mind. The non-enzymatic synthesis of phospholipid-like molecules forms a realistic alternative for natural enzymatic-based pathways, that nowadays can even support functional membrane proteins. Eventually, coupling to in vitro transcription/translation is required, for which efficient mechanisms of insertion and folding of the involved membrane proteins need to be developed. Such an integrated system will form a suitable foundation of a synthetic minimal cell that eventually can be coupled to other cellular processes such as division.
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November 2019
Issue Editors
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Cover Image
Cover Image
This issue of Emerging Topics in Life Sciences brings together a collection of perspectives and reviews discussing the exciting advances in synthetic biology. The cover image is an adaptation of a figure featured in the review ‘Physicochemical considerations for bottom-up synthetic biology’ by Śmigiel et al. It shows an artist's impression of a bottom-up constructed synthetic cell, representing the three basic processes of a living cell: cell fuelling (green), DNA processing (orange/red), and cell division (blue).
Review Article|
July 23 2019
Continuous expansion of a synthetic minimal cellular membrane
Marten Exterkate
;
Marten Exterkate
Department of Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747AG Groningen, The Netherlands
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Arnold J.M. Driessen
Department of Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747AG Groningen, The Netherlands
Correspondence: Arnold J. M. Driessen (a.j.m.driessen@rug.nl)
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
April 30 2019
Revision Received:
June 17 2019
Accepted:
July 08 2019
Online ISSN: 2397-8562
Print ISSN: 2397-8554
© 2019 The Author(s). Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society and the Royal Society of Biology
2019
Emerg Top Life Sci (2019) 3 (5): 543–549.
Article history
Received:
April 30 2019
Revision Received:
June 17 2019
Accepted:
July 08 2019
Citation
Marten Exterkate, Arnold J.M. Driessen; Continuous expansion of a synthetic minimal cellular membrane. Emerg Top Life Sci 11 November 2019; 3 (5): 543–549. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/ETLS20190020
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