According to recent research, scientists have embedded artificial hydrogel scaffolds into bacteria to create semi-synthetic “cyborg cells” that could one day serve as tiny robots in medicine, environmental cleanup and industrial manufacturing. advanced science.
In addition to making cells more robust, this scaffold eliminates the cells’ ability to reproduce, so they can be better controlled than genetically modified live bacteria. Easier to create than a completely artificial cell.
“I didn’t expect this to work,” says Cheemeng Tan, a synthetic biologist at the University of California, Davis, and study co-author. “You would think that introducing a gel matrix into cells would kill them in most cases.” But his team decided to give it a try.
To build biological robots, researchers often hack the genetic code of living microorganisms to adapt the organisms for their intended purpose. But billions of years of evolution have taught microbes not to do things that endanger themselves. This is an awkward situation for synthetic biologists who want their cells to produce valuable but toxic chemicals or perform other dangerous tasks.
they are not stupid. Kate Amara, a synthetic biologist at the University of Minnesota, wasn’t involved in the new research.
Completely artificial cells lack replication and survival instincts, making them easier to control than living cells. However, it is often difficult to make them sophisticated enough to handle complex tasks. “In terms of complexity, they are not comparable to natural cells,” Tan says.
To make cyborg cells, researchers use live injections Escherichia coli Tang is likened to a dense mass of wet molecular noodles. This enhancement makes the cells more robust and allows them to survive toxic stressors that would otherwise kill normal cells. Escherichia coli. Such cells are somewhere between artificial and natural, unable to divide, but otherwise have normal function and metabolism. The team also showed that cyborg cells are programmed with genetic “circuits” (sets of genes that cause the cells to perform simple calculations) and are equipped with genes that help them invade tumor cells.
Scientists have previously incorporated hydrogels into fully artificial cells. But Adamara points out that it is “very difficult” to control the composition of hydrogels in living cells. According to Tan, the group basically stumbled upon the right hydrogel by accident and spent months fine-tuning the recipe so that the bacteria could survive.
Tan and Adamala agree that turning other types of cells into cyborgs can be useful. Yeast, for example, is a fungus that can make proteins that bacteria can’t, and now Tan’s team is programming her cyborg bacteria to deliver vaccines and act as tiny terminators for cancer cells. I am working on it.
