A cellular platform for the development of synthetic living machines
| Autor: | Douglas J. Blackiston, Emma K Lederer, Sam Kriegman, Joshua C. Bongard, Simon Garnier, Michael Levin |
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| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Control and Optimization Computer science Distributed computing 02 engineering and technology Cellular Automata In Vitro Techniques Microprinting Proof of Concept Study 03 medical and health sciences Xenopus laevis Artificial Intelligence Biomimetic Materials Cell Movement Animals Molecular memory Cilia Process (anatomy) Biomedicine Swimming business.industry Mechanical Engineering Swarm behaviour Equipment Design Robotics 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology Computer Science Applications Luminescent Proteins 030104 developmental biology Proof of concept Structural plasticity Robot Artificial Cells Synthetic Biology 0210 nano-technology business |
| Zdroj: | Science robotics. 6(52) |
| ISSN: | 2470-9476 |
| Popis: | Robot swarms have, to date, been constructed from artificial materials. Motile biological constructs have been created from muscle cells grown on precisely shaped scaffolds. However, the exploitation of emergent self-organization and functional plasticity into a self-directed living machine has remained a major challenge. We report here a method for generation of in vitro biological robots from frog (Xenopus laevis) cells. These xenobots exhibit coordinated locomotion via cilia present on their surface. These cilia arise through normal tissue patterning and do not require complicated construction methods or genomic editing, making production amenable to high-throughput projects. The biological robots arise by cellular self-organization and do not require scaffolds or microprinting; the amphibian cells are highly amenable to surgical, genetic, chemical, and optical stimulation during the self-assembly process. We show that the xenobots can navigate aqueous environments in diverse ways, heal after damage, and show emergent group behaviors. We constructed a computational model to predict useful collective behaviors that can be elicited from a xenobot swarm. In addition, we provide proof of principle for a writable molecular memory using a photoconvertible protein that can record exposure to a specific wavelength of light. Together, these results introduce a platform that can be used to study many aspects of self-assembly, swarm behavior, and synthetic bioengineering, as well as provide versatile, soft-body living machines for numerous practical applications in biomedicine and the environment. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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