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Artificial cell mimics as simplified models for the study of cell biology
Living cells are hugely complex chemical systems composed of a milieu of distinct chemical species (including DNA, proteins, lipids, and metabolites) interconnected with one another through a vast web of interactions: this complexity renders the study of cell biology in a quantitative and systematic...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
SAGE Publications
2017
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5528198/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28580796 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1535370217711441 |
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author | Salehi-Reyhani, Ali Ces, Oscar Elani, Yuval |
author_facet | Salehi-Reyhani, Ali Ces, Oscar Elani, Yuval |
author_sort | Salehi-Reyhani, Ali |
collection | PubMed |
description | Living cells are hugely complex chemical systems composed of a milieu of distinct chemical species (including DNA, proteins, lipids, and metabolites) interconnected with one another through a vast web of interactions: this complexity renders the study of cell biology in a quantitative and systematic manner a difficult task. There has been an increasing drive towards the utilization of artificial cells as cell mimics to alleviate this, a development that has been aided by recent advances in artificial cell construction. Cell mimics are simplified cell-like structures, composed from the bottom-up with precisely defined and tunable compositions. They allow specific facets of cell biology to be studied in isolation, in a simplified environment where control of variables can be achieved without interference from a living and responsive cell. This mini-review outlines the core principles of this approach and surveys recent key investigations that use cell mimics to address a wide range of biological questions. It will also place the field in the context of emerging trends, discuss the associated limitations, and outline future directions of the field. IMPACT STATEMENT: Recent years have seen an increasing drive to construct cell mimics and use them as simplified experimental models to replicate and understand biological phenomena in a well-defined and controlled system. By summarizing the advances in this burgeoning field, and using case studies as a basis for discussion on the limitations and future directions of this approach, it is hoped that this minireview will spur others in the experimental biology community to use artificial cells as simplified models with which to probe biological systems. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5528198 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2017 |
publisher | SAGE Publications |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-55281982017-08-02 Artificial cell mimics as simplified models for the study of cell biology Salehi-Reyhani, Ali Ces, Oscar Elani, Yuval Exp Biol Med (Maywood) IEBMC minireview papers Living cells are hugely complex chemical systems composed of a milieu of distinct chemical species (including DNA, proteins, lipids, and metabolites) interconnected with one another through a vast web of interactions: this complexity renders the study of cell biology in a quantitative and systematic manner a difficult task. There has been an increasing drive towards the utilization of artificial cells as cell mimics to alleviate this, a development that has been aided by recent advances in artificial cell construction. Cell mimics are simplified cell-like structures, composed from the bottom-up with precisely defined and tunable compositions. They allow specific facets of cell biology to be studied in isolation, in a simplified environment where control of variables can be achieved without interference from a living and responsive cell. This mini-review outlines the core principles of this approach and surveys recent key investigations that use cell mimics to address a wide range of biological questions. It will also place the field in the context of emerging trends, discuss the associated limitations, and outline future directions of the field. IMPACT STATEMENT: Recent years have seen an increasing drive to construct cell mimics and use them as simplified experimental models to replicate and understand biological phenomena in a well-defined and controlled system. By summarizing the advances in this burgeoning field, and using case studies as a basis for discussion on the limitations and future directions of this approach, it is hoped that this minireview will spur others in the experimental biology community to use artificial cells as simplified models with which to probe biological systems. SAGE Publications 2017-06-04 2017-07 /pmc/articles/PMC5528198/ /pubmed/28580796 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1535370217711441 Text en © 2017 by the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
spellingShingle | IEBMC minireview papers Salehi-Reyhani, Ali Ces, Oscar Elani, Yuval Artificial cell mimics as simplified models for the study of cell biology |
title | Artificial cell mimics as simplified models for the study of cell biology |
title_full | Artificial cell mimics as simplified models for the study of cell biology |
title_fullStr | Artificial cell mimics as simplified models for the study of cell biology |
title_full_unstemmed | Artificial cell mimics as simplified models for the study of cell biology |
title_short | Artificial cell mimics as simplified models for the study of cell biology |
title_sort | artificial cell mimics as simplified models for the study of cell biology |
topic | IEBMC minireview papers |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5528198/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28580796 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1535370217711441 |
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