Synthetic cells: A route toward assembling life

Over the last four billion years, unicellular and multicellular living systems have evolved to be highly adaptable in a variety of environments found on our blue planet. The success of cellular life not only lies in the versatility of the molecular building blocks (e.g., amino acids, nucleotides, lipids, and other small molecules) of which it is composed, but also in the diverse approaches by which finely tuned processes imbue functionality to ensure survival. Indeed, life has been a source of inspiration for many scientists. With our increased capacity to construct self-assembled materials combined with an improved understanding of cellular mechanisms, a new field of science has emerged in recent years focused on the construction of synthetic cells and organelles via a bottom-up approach. The objectives of this discipline are diverse; via the construction of life-like systems one wants to attain a better fundamental understanding of how life could have evolved, as well as understanding of current biological processes. Furthermore, endowing matter with lifelike features allows the development of a new class of materials with adaptive and interactive properties that could find their use in a wide range of applications from biomedicine to soft robotics. Within this chapter, we describe general methods to construct synthetic cell models with a special focus on giant liposomes and coacervates. These synthetic cell platforms can be engineered to display lifelike features, such as adaptivity and dynamic behaviors. The field of science on synthetic cells has recently, furthermore, progressed from the investigation of single protocells to research on how to attain a second tier of complexity whereby synthetic consortia can be created as well as how artificial systems can be combined with living cells. These new developments are discussed in the last part of this chapter with a focus on information processing and communication.