Dr. Tom de Greef, Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands

The development of highly orthogonal molecular communication channels is a crucial step towards engineering artificial cell-scale systems. Here, we present a general and scalable platform entitled 'Biomolecular Implementation of Protocellular Communication' (BIO-PC) to engineer multichannel molecular communication networks between populations of non-lipid microcapsules. Our method leverages the modularity and scalability of enzyme-free DNA strand-displacement circuits to develop protocellular consortia that can sense, process and respond to DNA-based messages. We engineer a rich variety of biochemical communication devices capable of cascaded amplification, bidirectional communication, sender-receiver functions and distributed computational operations. Encapsulation of DNA strand-displacement circuits allows their use in concentrated serum where non-compartmentalized DNA circuits cannot operate. BIO-PC enables reliable execution of distributed DNA-based molecular programs in biologically relevant environments and opens new directions in DNA computing and minimal cell technology.