[FOX] Scientists at the University of Minnesota say they have built the most life-like synthetic cell yet, creating a laboratory-made system assembled entirely from nonliving components that can grow, replicate its genetic material, divide and even pass beneficial traits to future generations.
The researchers describe the work as a major step toward building artificial life but said the synthetic cells cannot survive outside carefully controlled laboratory conditions and require externally supplied nutrients and specialized components to grow and divide.
"One of the most ambitious and fascinating goals of bioengineering is to build a biochemical system that could cross the threshold from chemistry to life," the researchers wrote. They said the work demonstrates "the first minimal cell with a cell cycle, genetically encoded growth and division, all coupled to selection and competition."
The researchers call the synthetic cell "SpudCell." Unlike earlier approaches that started with living organisms, SpudCell was assembled from chemically defined, nonliving components.
Its 90,000-base-pair genome enables the synthetic cell to produce proteins, replicate its DNA, feed, grow and divide into daughter cells. |