Although the complexity of synthetic cells has continued to increase in recent years, chemical communication between protocell models and living organisms remains a key challenge in bottom-up synthetic biology and bioengineering. In this Review, we discuss how communication channels and modes of signal processing can be established between living cells and cytomimetic agents such as giant unilamellar lipid vesicles, proteinosomes, polysaccharidosomes, polymer-based giant vesicles and membrane-less coacervate micro-droplets. We describe three potential modes of chemical communication in consortia of synthetic and living cells based on mechanisms of distributed communication and signal processing, physical embodiment and nested communication, and network-based contact-dependent communication. We survey the potential for applying synthetic cell/living cell communication systems in biomedicine, including the in situ production of therapeutics and development of new bioreactors. Finally, we present a short summary of our findings.

尽管近年来合成细胞的复杂性不断增加，但原始细胞模型与活生物体之间的化学通讯仍然是自下而上的合成生物学和生物工程中的一个关键挑战。在本综述中，我们讨论了如何在活细胞和拟细胞剂（例如巨型单层脂质囊泡、蛋白体、多糖体、基于聚合物的巨型囊泡和无膜凝聚微滴）之间建立通信通道和信号处理模式。我们描述了基于分布式通信和信号处理、物理体现和嵌套通信以及基于网络的接触依赖通信机制的合成细胞和活细胞联合体中化学通信的三种潜在模式。我们调查了在生物医学中应用合成细胞/活细胞通信系统的潜力，包括治疗药物的原位生产和新生物反应器的开发。最后，我们对我们的发现进行了简短的总结。