Introducing synthetic features to living organisms without genetic modificationIntroducing synthetic features to living organisms without genetic modification

(a) In the absence of artificial cells (circles), E. coli (oblong) cannot sense theophylline. (b) Artificial cells can be engineered to detect theophylline and in response release IPTG, a chemical signal that induces a response in E. coli. Credit: (c) 2014 Nature

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-06-synthetic-features-genetic-modification.html#jCp