Toward total synthesis of cell function: Reconstituting cell dynamics with synthetic biology

Gloss Synthetic biology approaches have contributed to our understanding of many cellular processes. In this Review, which contains 4 figures and 38 references, we show how synthetic biology approaches have revealed new insights into cellular proliferation, cellular differentiation, phagocytosis, and chemotaxis. The focus of this Review will be on case studies that highlight the applications of synthetic biology in biological experiments.