SpudCell: The first synthetic cell with a complete cell cycle

# Summary Researchers at the University of Minnesota have created SpudCell, a fully synthetic cell made from 36 purified enzymes, a 90,000 base pair genome, and a lipid membrane that can complete an entire cell cycle—growing, replicating DNA, dividing, and undergoing selection across multiple generations. Unlike previous minimal cells derived from living organisms, SpudCell is built entirely from non-living chemical components and demonstrates key cellular functions including genetically controlled growth through fusion with nutrient-delivering liposomes and division through membrane protein crowding rather than a cytoskeleton. The system successfully exhibited natural selection when a genetic variant producing more fusion protein outcompeted the original population, demonstrating that Darwinian evolution can occur in a fully synthetic chemical system.