Porcar M. The Hidden Charm of Life.
Life (Basel) 2019;
9:life9010005. [PMID:
30621097 PMCID:
PMC6463155 DOI:
10.3390/life9010005]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2018] [Revised: 12/28/2018] [Accepted: 01/02/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Synthetic biology is an engineering view on biotechnology, which has revolutionized genetic engineering. The field has seen a constant development of metaphors that tend to highlight the similarities of cells with machines. I argue here that living organisms, particularly bacterial cells, are not machine-like, engineerable entities, but, instead, factory-like complex systems shaped by evolution. A change of the comparative paradigm in synthetic biology from machines to factories, from hardware to software, and from informatics to economy is discussed.
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