The engineering of artificial cells requires a reconfigurable cytoskeleton that can organize at distinct locations and dynamically modulate its structural and mechanical properties. This study combines peptide self-assembly with DNA programmability to realize a synthetic cytoskeleton in droplets showing that programmable peptide–DNA nanotechnology approach is a powerful platform towards the construction of functional, fully artificial cells.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-024-01509-w (open access)
4 Comments
beefbot@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 11 pts · 2y
I know no microscopic biology but I imagine other natural cells encountering such a cell and recoiling from it the same way dogs who sniff a robot dog and sense nothing are legit highly freaked out 😂
teft@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 2y
Uncanny valley but for cells.
witty_username@feddit.nl · 0 pts · 2y
Didn't Venter's lab do something like this already 10 ish years ago?
meyotch@slrpnk.net · 3 pts · 2y
Not quite. I think you may be referring to their genome transplant. They used a natural cell and completely replaced the original genome with synthesized DNA. Whereas this project did not rely on existing cellular machinery.