Artificial minimal cells: Creating enough life for medical research

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  Quantumrun Foresight
• December 23, 2022

Insight summary

Exploring the essentials of life, scientists have been reducing genomes to create minimal cells, revealing the core functions necessary for life. These efforts have led to unexpected discoveries and challenges, such as irregular cell shapes, prompting further refinement and understanding of genetic essentials. This research paves the way for advancements in synthetic biology, with potential applications in drug development, disease study, and personalized medicine.

Artificial minimal cells context

Artificial minimal cells or genome minimization is a practical synthetic biology approach for understanding how interactions between essential genes give rise to vital physiological processes. Genome minimization used a design-build-test-learn method that relied on the evaluation and combination of modular genomic segments and information from transposon mutagenesis (the process of transferring genes from one host to another) to help guide gene deletions. This method reduced bias when finding essential genes and gave scientists the tools to change, rebuild, and study the genome and what it does.

In 2010, scientists at the US-based J. Craig Venter Institute (JVCI) announced that they had successfully eliminated the DNA of the bacteria Mycoplasma capricolum and replaced it with computer-generated DNA based on another bacteria, Mycoplasma mycoides. The team titled their new organism JCVI-syn1.0, or ‘Synthetic,’ for short. This organism was the first self-replicating species on Earth that consisted of computer parents. It was created to help scientists understand how life worked, starting from cells up. 

In 2016, the team created JCVI-syn3.0, a single-celled organism with fewer genes than any other known form of simple life (only 473 genes compared with JVCI-syn1.0’s 901 genes). However, the organism acted in unpredictable ways. Instead of producing healthy cells, it created oddly shaped ones during self-replication. Scientists realized they had removed too many genes from the original cell, including those responsible for normal cell division. 

Disruptive impact

Determined to find a healthy organism with the fewest genes possible, biophysicists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) remixed the JCVI-syn3.0 code in 2021. They were able to create a new variant called JCVI-syn3A. Even though this new cell only has 500 genes, it behaves more like a regular cell thanks to the researchers’ work. 

Scientists are working to strip down the cell even further. In 2021, a new synthetic organism known as M. mycoides JCVI-syn3B evolved for 300 days, demonstrating that it can mutate under different circumstances. Bioengineers are also optimistic that a more streamlined organism can help scientists study life at its most basic level and understand how diseases advance.

In 2022, a team of scientists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, JVCI, and Germany-based Technische Universität Dresden created a computer model of JCVI-syn3A. This model could accurately predict its real-life analog’s growth and molecular structure. As of 2022, it was the most complete whole-cell model that a computer has simulated.

These simulations can provide valuable information. This data includes metabolism, growth, and genetic information processes over a cell cycle. The analysis offers insight into the principles of life and how cells consume energy, including the active transport of amino acids, nucleotides, and ions. As minimal cell research continues to grow, scientists can create better synthetic biology systems that can be used to develop drugs, study diseases, and discover genetic therapies.

Implications of artificial minimal cells

Wider implications of the development of artificial minimal cells may include: 

• More global collaborations to create stripped-down but functioning life systems for research.
• Increased machine learning and computer modeling usage to map biological structures, such as blood cells and proteins.
• Advanced synthetic biology and machine-organism hybrids, including body-on-a-chip and live robots. However, these experiments might receive ethical complaints from some scientists.
• Some biotech and biopharma firms heavily investing in synthetic biology initiatives to fast-track drug and therapy developments.
• Increased innovation and discoveries in genetic editing as scientists learn more about genes and how they can be manipulated.
• Enhanced regulations on biotechnological research to ensure ethical practices, safeguarding both scientific integrity and public trust.
• Emergence of new educational and training programs focused on synthetic biology and artificial life forms, equipping the next generation of scientists with specialized skills.
• Shift in healthcare strategies towards personalized medicine, utilizing artificial cells and synthetic biology for tailor-made treatments and diagnostics.

Questions to consider

• If you work in the synthetic biology field, what are the other benefits of minimal cells?
• How can organizations and institutions work together to advance synthetic biology?