ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2011
Development of an artificial cell, from self-organization to computation and self-reproduction.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 106 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
106 citing papers in PubMed, 338 citations in OpenAlex.
- Elucidating the Reciprocal Interplay between Supramolecular Polymer Cytoskeletons and Fuel-Dependent Synthetic Cells.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2026Article
- A self-replicating artificial module-genome that generates bacterial chromosome replication system in vitro.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Vesicle-Templated Self-Assembly of Programmable Freestanding Multi-μm DNA Shells.Nano letters · 2026Article
- Functional nucleic acid Hydrogels: Paving the way for Next-generation bone and cartilage regeneration.Materials today. Bio · 2026Review
- Autonomous biogenesis of all thirty proteins of the Escherichia coli translation machinery.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Reconstituting transcription-translation-coupled DNA replication within complex in vitro biological systems.Nature communications · 2025Article
- How doesScience advances · 2025Article
- Origins of life: the possible and the actual.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Cation-Controlled Assembly, Activity, and Organization of Biomimetic DNA Receptors in Synthetic Cell Membranes.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025Article
- Immobilization of Enzyme-Polymer Hybrids and Nanozymes Through Electrostatic Interactions: Toward Multicatalytic Microreactors with Controlled Nanoarchitecture.Small science · 2025Article
- The minimal chemotactic cell.Science advances · 2025Article
- Scaling Up Synthetic Cell Production Using Robotics and Machine Learning Toward Therapeutic Applications.Advanced biology · 2025Article
- On-the-Fly Microfluidic Control of Giant Vesicle Compositions Validated by DNA Surface Charge Sensors.ACS nano · 2025Article
- Cell-Free Gene Expression: Methods and Applications.Chemical reviews · 2025Review
- Force versus Response: Methods for Activating and Characterizing Mechanosensitive Ion Channels and GPCRs.Advanced healthcare materials · 2024Review
- Concepts of a synthetic minimal cell: Information molecules, metabolic pathways, and vesicle reproduction.Biophysics and physicobiology · 2024Article
- DNA droplets for intelligent and dynamical artificial cells: from the viewpoint of computation and non-equilibrium systems.Interface focus · 2023Review
- DNA-Origami Line-Actants Control Domain Organization and Fission in Synthetic Membranes.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2023Article
- PhotocleavableChemical reviews · 2023Review
- After 150 years of watching: is there a need for synthetic ethology?Animal cognition · 2023Review
46 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This article describes the state and the development of an artificial cell project. We discuss the experimental constraints to synthesize the most elementary cell-sized compartment that can self-reproduce using synthetic genetic information. The original idea was to program a phospholipid vesicle with DNA. Based on this idea, it was shown that in vitro gene expression could be carried out inside cell-sized synthetic vesicles. It was also shown that a couple of genes could be expressed for a few days inside the vesicles once the exchanges of nutrients with the outside environment were adequately introduced. The development of a cell-free transcription/translation toolbox allows the expression of a large number of genes with multiple transcription factors. As a result, the development of a synthetic DNA program is becoming one of the main hurdles. We discuss the various possibilities to enrich and to replicate this program. Defining a program for self-reproduction remains a difficult question as nongenetic processes, such as molecular self-organization, play an essential and complementary role. The synthesis of a stable compartment with an active interface, one of the critical bottlenecks in the synthesis of artificial cell, depends on the properties of phospholipid membranes. The problem of a self-replicating artificial cell is a long-lasting goal that might imply evolution experiments.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.