The notion of a DNA minimal cell: a general discourse and some guidelines for an experimental approach

Abstract

The staggering complexity of even the simplest living microorganisms on Earth elicits the question of whether such complexity is really necessary for life, or whether, instead, the basic functions of cellular life (homeostasis, reproduction, and evolution) can be, in principle, expressed by much simpler unicellular entities that contain only a few dozen genes. This suggests the notion of a minimal cell, i.e., the (potential) cell having the minimal sufficient molecular components to be defined as alive. The conceptual and practical implementation of such minimal cell(s) for our understanding of the notion of life, and also for possible biotechnological applications, is discussed here.