New Synthetic SpudCell Mirrors Real Life

Scientists at the University of Minnesota have built a cell-like system, called SpudCell, that can feed, grow, divide, and compete with other generations. It is the first artificial cell to complete a full life cycle and produce a next generation.

The researchers have not claimed to have created life. Most synthetic biologists agree no artificial cell has crossed that threshold. John Glass of the J. Craig Venter Institute said “Keep in mind that ‘alive’ is not a precisely defined condition”.

SpudCell relies on scientists to supply it with proteins and enzymes because it cannot make its own ribosomes. Ronit Freeman, a synthetic biologist at the University of North Carolina, said the approach is elegant but also questioned how easily others could repeat it.

SpudCell was built from the bottom up, unlike past efforts that started with living cells. Researchers see it as a starting point to explore how life began and to engineer new functions for medicines, materials, and foods. Juan Perez-Mercader of Harvard called it very advanced biotechnology, not the synthesis of life.

Biosecurity experts said SpudCell in its current form poses no threat because it cannot survive outside a lab. Becky Mackelprang of the Engineering Biology Research Consortium argued that such tools are not inherently good or bad, but can be used for beneficial or harmful purposes.

Tom Inglesby of Johns Hopkins warned that a future harmful synthetic cell could have very serious consequences, as it could be used for biological warfare.

David Relman, a microbiologist at Stanford, said the work is provocative in revealing what might soon be possible. For now, SpudCell has restarted a conversation about preparing for both the benefits and the risks of building lifelike systems.