- A research team at the University of Minnesota has created synthetic cells named SpudCells that can feed, grow, reproduce, and compete for food.
- SpudCells are not fully alive but exhibit many life-like functions, representing a major step towards understanding and engineering life from chemicals.
- The cells were built from about a hundred proteins, viral and E. coli genes, and membrane components, forming bubbles that perform chemical reactions akin to natural cells.
- SpudCells can evolve rudimentarily, as shown when mutant versions outcompeted original cells for food over five generations.