http://english.cas.cn/newsroom/research-news/202605/t20260528_1159994.shtml
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-026-03153-w
The SynCell Asia Initiative, established in 2023, is led by the CAS and comprises over 100 scientists from China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.
Building a single-celled organism from scratch using phospholipids, proteins, DNA, and other biological macromolecules, is one of the most challenging scientific goals in life science. Over the past several decades, global efforts have taken shape in Europe and the United States. However, while individual functional modules have advanced considerably, it remains a global challenge to systemically integrate these modules into a fully functional synthetic cell in space and time.
The roadmap in this study identifies four core challenges in building a synthetic cell:
- metabolic continuity,
- ribosome autonomy,
- modular design rules and spatiotemporal coordination.
To address these challenges, the roadmap advocates a “central factory plus distributed workstations” model: standardized synthetic cell chassis and reagents are prepared centrally and distributed to participating labs, forming a closed-loop Design-Build-Test-Learn (DBTL) cycle. Single-syncell omics using automated platforms to collect genome, transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, and quantitative imaging data at single-cell resolution, will provide high-dimensional data for machine learning models. Also, it is proposed to combine “white-box” mechanistic models with “black-box” data-driven models to better predict and control synthetic cell behavior.
The roadmap has a two-stage, 10-year target.
The first stage is ProtoCell (Years 1–5) which is a stable phospholipid vesicle with a minimal genome (≥200 genes), ≥90% of proteins expressed by a cell-free transcription-translation system, and endogenous synthesis of key metabolites. A “digital twin” of the synthetic cell will also be developed to explore how mechanical and biochemical signals coordinate division.
The second stage is AutoCell (Years 6–10) which will achieve endogenous, genome-encoded ribosome regeneration, replacing the external cell-free expression system and enabling true self-replication. The AutoCell must complete ≥10 continuous, coordinated growth-division cycles, evolve under environmental selection pressures, and form synthetic cell communities with emergent behaviors such as material exchange and division of labor.