Advances and challenges of artificial cells in life: A review

Abstract

Artificial cells have attracted extensive attention as substitutes for natural cells, which have many different forms, such as liposomes, polymersomes, dendrimerosomes, colloidosomes, and proteinosomes. In general, they have a complete structure, so that they can exhibit some key characteristics and simulate specific functions of living cells, such as stress behaviors generated by external pH, temperature, reducing agents, light, and other signals, thereby mimicking the behavior of the original cell. These artificial cells have many applications and may help to understand the origin of life. Despite the increasing complexity of the design and synthesis of artificial cells in recent years, the chemical communication of primary cells in response to external stimuli remains a key challenge in bottom-up synthetic biology and bioengineering. Recent advances in the synthesis of simple cells and simulation of proto-cellular behavior suggest that the construction and simulation of living organisms is a realistic goal. This paper presents a review of recent research progress in the construction of five main artificial cell models and their applications in the life sciences, and highlights the current problems, limitations, challenges, and opportunities in this field.