Chapter 11:Chemical synthetic biology projects: never born biopolymers and synthetic cells

“Chemical” synthetic biology can be defined as a branch of synthetic biology focused on the synthesis of chemical structures alternative to those present in nature. Here we present two chemical synthetic biology projects, namely (1) the Never Born Biopolymers and (2) the Synthetic Minimal Cells. The first project aims at identifying and constructing biopolymers like nucleic acids and proteins that do not exist in nature and that display biological-like functions. The goal of the second project is instead focused on the assembly of cell-like structures, based on liposomes, that behave like simple cells. The concepts and the experimental approaches concerning these projects are shortly summarized and discussed.