GoKawiilA SpudCell on a microscope slide
This Cell Feeds, Grows and Reproduces. And It’s Manmade.
Scientists have long dreamed of discovering the alchemy by which chemicals can be turned into life. On Wednesday, a team at the University of Minnesota announced that it had taken a major step toward that vision.
Blending together dozens of ingredients, the researchers have synthesized simple cells that feed, grow, reproduce and compete with one another for food. If these cells are not yet fully alive, they have most of the hallmarks of life.
“Life is not binary,” said Kate Adamala, a synthetic biologist who led the research. “That’s why I’m hesitant to call this ‘alive.’ There’s no clear line, as much as we would love it to be.”
Until now, scientists had never mastered the recipe for a cell that can perform so many functions, said John Glass, a synthetic biologist at the J. Craig Venter Institute in La Jolla, Calif., who was not involved in the study.
“It is dazzling that she has put these things all together,” he said.
Drew Endy, a synthetic biologist at Stanford University, said, “It’s a cell that was built, not born. It’s constructed, but it does what cells do.”
0.05 millimeters A SpudCell is almost four times smaller than a fine grain of sand. Pollen grain Spudcells Fine grain of sand 0.05 millimeters Spudcells A SpudCell is almost four times smaller than a fine grain of sand. Pollen grain Fine grain of sand The New York Times
Dr. Adamala named her creation SpudCell, after its potato-like appearance. Rather than patent it, she and Dr. Endy are organizing a community of scientists to focus on making SpudCells more fully alive and adapting them to new kinds of experiments.
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