Toward synthetic life: Biomimetic synthetic cell communication

Engineering synthetic minimal cells provide a controllable chassis for studying the biochemical principles of natural life, increasing our understanding of complex biological processes. Recently, synthetic cell engineering has enabled communica-tion between both natural live cells and other synthetic cells. A system such as these enable studying interactions between populations of cells, both natural and artificial, and engineering small molecule cell communication protocols for a variety of basic research and practical applications. In this review, we summarize recent progress in engineering communication between synthetic and natural cells, and we speculate about the possible future directions of this work.

Automated summary

Engineering synthetic minimal cells provides a controllable platform for studying the biochemical principles of natural life and increasing understanding of complex biological processes. Recent progress in synthetic cell engineering has enabled communication between natural live cells and other synthetic cells, facilitating research on cell interactions and the design of small molecule cell communication protocols for a variety of applications.