Live cells, as reservoirs of biochemical reactions, can serve as amazing integrated chemical plants where precursor formation, nucleation and growth of nanocrystals, and functional assembly can be carried out accurately following an artificial program. It is crucial but challenging to deliberately direct intracellular pathways to synthesize desired nanocrystals that cannot be produced naturally in cells, because the relevant reactions exist in different spatiotemporal dimensions and will never encounter spontaneously. This article summarizes progress in the introduction of inorganic functional nanocrystals into live cells via the ‘artificial-regulated space–time-coupled live-cell synthesis’ strategy. We also describe ingenious bio-applications of the nanocrystal–cell systems, and quasi-biosynthesis strategies expanded from live-cell synthesis. Artificial-regulated live-cell synthesis—which involves the interdisciplinary application of biology, chemistry, nanoscience and medicine—will enable researchers to better exploit the unanticipated potentialities of live cells and open up new directions in synthetic biology.

中文翻译：

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活细胞中纳米晶体的人工调控合成

活细胞作为生化反应的储存库，可以作为令人惊叹的综合化工厂，其中前体形成、纳米晶体的成核和生长以及功能组装可以按照人工程序准确进行。故意引导细胞内途径合成细胞内无法自然产生的所需纳米晶体是至关重要但具有挑战性的，因为相关反应存在于不同的时空维度中，并且永远不会自发遇到。本文总结了通过“人工调节的时空耦合活细胞合成”策略将无机功能纳米晶体引入活细胞的进展。我们还描述了纳米晶体细胞系统的巧妙生物应用，以及从活细胞合成扩展的准生物合成策略。