Artificial cell

The artificial cell or minimal cell is an engineered particle that mimics one or many functions of a biological cell. It is an idea that certain functions or structures of biological cells can be replaced or supplemented with a synthetic entity. Artificial cells are biological or polymeric membranes which enclose biologically active materials. Notably, the artificial cells have been clinically successful in hemoperfusion, implantation, blood transfusion and many other clinical conditions. In the area of synthetic biology, a "living" artificial cell has been defined as a completely synthetically made cell that can capture energy, maintain ion gradients, contain macromolecules as well as store information and have the ability to mutate. Such a cell is not technically feasible yet, but a variation of an artificial cell has been created in which a completely synthetic genome was introduced to genomically emptied host cells. Although not completely artificial because the cytoplasmic components as well as the membrane from the host cell are kept, the engineered cell is under control of a man-made genome and is able to replicate.