In case you digested the headline to mean "scientists create functioning cells," be assured this is not the story of Frankenstein all over again. These lab-created cells have no DNA and are made from artificial materials, i.e. polymers, or plastic. Yet they act like cells in that they harness an energy source to create and pump out chemicals.
In the new study, researchers sought to mimic the active transport function without trying to reproduce the complex mechanisms that cells use. Living cells have intricate membranes, with protein channels and pumping mechanisms powered by mitochondria and Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) that allow cells to pump selected molecules in and out across the membrane, even when it means working against osmotic pressures due to differences in ion concentrations.
That's a bit too ambitious, so the team opted for creating bubbles the size of a red blood cell out of polymers and piercing them to let particles pass through, mimicking a cell's protein channel. Instead of mitochondria, the cell mimic had a tiny bit of light-activated catalyst inside the channel. Shining light on the catalyst starts a chemical reaction that acts like a pump to pull material through the channel, while switching off the light traps the material inside and reverses the reaction, expelling the material on demand.
Put it more simply, this mechanism lets the cell mimic ingest, store, process, and expel matter like a living cell.
The activities of these cells are based on chemical reactions, but the fact that scientists could make them work is quite amazing. Experiments like this will help us study the mechanisms real cells use, which are chemical reactions used in a much more complex way. Read more about the research at New Atlas. -via Damn Interesting