Immunity by incompatibility – hope in chiral life

[AlexSorokin]

I think it is really hard to predict when it happens, but I am quite sure that all building blocks can be synthesized very soon (see also https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.202200537), because it is a self-accelerating process which already started. The real problem is to assemble the minimal artificial cell, which is able to replicate (not nesessary designed as a replicator). 

[Duda Jarek]

Fully synthetic cells are already created and working (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_cell ,  https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2021/03/scientists-create-simple-synthetic-cell-grows-and-divides-normally ) - for simple microbes it is just a matter of putting what's needed into phospholipid bag ... and there are financial motivations: to cheaply synthesize mirror chemicals e.g. for drugs.

It is quite likely there will be first mirror microbes in a decade - it is now time to prepare for that: understand the dangers (e.g. taking over ecological niches while being toxic), try to prevent them ...

[AlexSorokin]

These JCVI-syn3.0 bacteria (that are able to replicate) are not truly synthetic. They are obtained by genome transplantation into already existing cell (top-down approach). Bottom-up approach (using phospholipid bags filled with synthetic compounds) is still in its infancy.