Semi-synthetic minimal cells as a tool for biochemical ICT

Biological systems evolved with the ability to communicate with their biotic surroundings through chemical signalling. Production, perception and decoding of the information carried by signal molecules allow individuals of a community to interact, cooperate, and coordinate their activities, establishing complex social behaviours. In this paper we speculate about the opportunity to use semi synthetic minimal cells (SSMCs) as artificial entities able to communicate, by processing biochemical information, with natural systems. SSMCs are liposome-based cell-like molecular assemblies designed for displaying minimal cellular functions, like gene transcription and translation. The technological advancements in the last few years led to successful production of functional proteins in SSMCs raises the possibility to generate semi synthetic cell-like systems expressing the biochemical apparatus for signal molecules production, perception and decoding. The variety of chemical “languages” evolutionary selected by bacteria to communicate provides a broad spectrum of biochemical opportunities exploitable to reach this goal in the near future. More in general, the consequences arising from the construction of synthetic systems capable of communicating with natural living organisms would greatly impact the applications of synthetic biology and biochemical-based information and communication technologies (ICTs) in medical sciences, for example for smart programmable and drug-producing systems.