Synthetic biology

Evolution prefers short-term survival at the expense of long-term function. 

There are many reasons for trying to define what constitutes life. One of these is the attempt to create forms that have many of the same characteristics of life, including reproduction, information 

Storage, complex behavior, and others. These artificial life-forms have never existed before and may be like no other living thing. 

Some are attempting to create life from the bottom up. They are locating the molecular machinery for their protocell on the outside, where a membrane is not needed. A clump of hydrophobic fatty acid molecules glues the protocell together as a structure called a micelle (Stroh, 2005). 

Genetic material for the protocell will be supplied by peptide nucleic acid, or PNA, which has the same double-helix structure and the same four chemical bases as DNA, but has a peptide backbone. A light-sensitive molecule will be able to provide the energy to convert precursor molecules into new fatty acids and PNA molecules. 

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Spherulites have been observed in organic and inorganic systems of synthetic, biological, and geological origin, including moon rocks, and are therefore not unique to polymers. 

McDaniel R, Weiss R. Advances in synthetic biology on the path from prototypes to applications. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2005 16 476-83. 

J. H. Miller, in R. Epton (Ed.), "Chronatography of Synthetic-Biological Polyners", Ellis Horwood, Chichester, 1978, p. 181. 

The minimal cell, as the simplest system which has all the required properties of life (metabolism, self-reproduction and the ability to evolve), is presently studied as part of a new research discipline synthetic biology. This includes subjects such as synthesis in branches of biological systems, for example, of new RNA species, new peptides and new nucleic acid analogues, as well as the synthesis of peptide nucleic acids. One example is the work of M. R. Ghadiri and G. von Kiedrowski on self-replication of oligonucleotides and oligopeptides (Luisi, 2006b). 

I.4.I.4. Synthetic Biologically Active Compounds Silyl- and carbonyl-substituted isoxazoles have been prepared and screened for their cytotoxic activity (497). Some exhibited moderate cytotoxicity toward the HT-1080 and MG-22A cell lines. The highest activity level has been displayed by 3-methyl-5-diphenyl-methylsilylisoxazole. 

Natural and Synthetic Biological Response Modifiers (BRMs).159... 

NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC BIOLOGICAL RESPONSE MODIFIERS (BRMs)... 

Schneider, W., and B. Schwyn (1987), "The Hydrolysis of Iron in Synthetic, Biological and Aquatic Media", in W. Stumm, Ed., Aquatic Surface Chemistry, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 167-196. 

Meyer, A., Pellaux, R. and Panke, S. Bioengineering novel in vitro metabolic pathways using synthetic biology. Curr. Opin. Microbiol., 2007, 10, 246-253. 

Schneider, W. Schwyn, B. (1987) The hydrolysis of iron in synthetic, biological, and aquatic media. In Stumm,W. (ed.) Aquatic surface chemistry. Wiley Interscience, New York, 167-194... 

Going back to the synthetic biology discussed in this book, I mentioned also that the construction in the laboratory of the early cell using the bottom-up approach is made difficult by the clouds of contingency, and added that there is instead confidence in a different approach to the minimal cell. This is the semi-synthetic approach seen in the previous chapter, which utilizes extant enzymes and/or genes. 

Luisi, P. L. (2006). The Emergence of Life From Chemical Origins to Synthetic Biology. Cambridge University Press. 

Building blocks derived from microbial transformations are usually employed as the key units of fluorinated analogs of appropriate natural products or synthetic biologically active materials [42-45]. Among such useful compounds, trifluoromethylated carbohydrates constitute one of the most interesting fields for intensive study. Novel and efficient routes to access a variety of chiral... 

In this exciting context, this volume provides a broad overview on the field of synthetic biologically active surfaces. In particular, three important aspects are emphasized in this volume (1) surface design, (2) interactions of 2D and 3D surfaces with biosystems, and (3) applications. Regarding surface preparation and modification, the reader will find in this book a practical description of synthetic tools, which constitute the state of the art in the field. For instance, surface functionalization... 

Chiral non-racemic cyclopropanes are a common motif in natural and synthetic biologically active compounds [85]. They represent an important target in asymmetric synthesis, and a range of catalytic methods have been developed for their synthesis [6, 47, 86-90]. Many of the existing methods make use of a chiral metal complex as catalyst [6], but organocatalytic methods have also been developed. In this section we will review methods using a substoichiometric amount of a chiral ylide as a catalyst for cyclopropanation [91]. 

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