Overview
- The University of Minnesota team published a preprint in early July saying their liposome system called SpudCell completes a cell cycle by feeding, growing, replicating its genome and dividing.
- SpudCell is assembled from known chemicals and a roughly 90 kilobase synthetic genome split across seven plasmids so researchers say every component and concentration is defined.
- The system relies on externally supplied ribosomes and feeder liposomes, functions only for a few generations under lab conditions, and cannot yet make its own protein-making machinery.
- The team demonstrated selection inside the platform when a genetic variant that boosted a membrane-fusion protein outgrew the original strain over about five generations, showing short-lived competitive evolution.
- The researchers launched the public-benefit group Biotic to share methods and invite replication, while peers urge independent validation, peer review and work on genome stability, ribosome biogenesis and metabolic autonomy before applications are realistic.