Minimal Cellular Models for Origins-of-Life Studies and Biotechnology

Minimal cellular models can be defined as those vesicle-based cell-like constructs that are assembled with the aim of (1) clarifying/understanding unknown aspects in origins-of-life research and hypotheses testing, (2) studying reconstituted biochemical pathways in a simplified system, (3) being exploited for potential biotechnological applications, and (4) developing novel concepts/technologies. These ‘synthetic cells’ are created by the bottom-up approach and within the synthetic/constructive paradigm. Here we shortly review the main ideas behind such novel usage of vesicles, and comment the experimental data collected in the past decades. An intriguing picture emerges, where technical progresses owing to the convergence of liposome, cell-free (and microfluidic) technologies lead to a fecund research area of great potential, which blends fundamental scientific question with the most modern and challenging facets of synthetic biology.