Co-culture systems and technologies: taking synthetic biology to the next level

Abstract

Co-culture techniques find myriad applications in biology for studying natural or synthetic interactions between cell populations. Such techniques are of great importance in synthetic biology, as multi-species cell consortia and other natural or synthetic ecology systems are widely seen to hold enormous potential for foundational research as well as novel industrial, medical and environmental applications with many proof-of-principle studies in recent years. What is needed for co-cultures to fulfil their potential? Cell-cell interactions in cocultures are strongly influenced by the extracellular environment, which is determined by the experimental set-up, which therefore needs to be given careful consideration. An overview of existing experimental and theoretical co-culture set-ups in synthetic biology and adjacent fields is given here, and challenges and opportunities involved in such experiments are discussed. Greater focus on foundational technology developments for co-cultures is needed for many synthetic biology systems to realize their potential in both applications and answering biological questions.

In Silico Identification of Microbial Partners to Form Consortia with Anaerobic Fungi

“…This suggests that maintaining population stability could be difficult for these co-cultures if paired with anaerobic fungi [41]. While L. lactis has a comparable growth rate to A. robustus, it is unable to metabolize xylose; therefore, it would directly compete for glucose.…”

Fibroblasts Enhance Migration of Human Lung Cancer Cells in a Paper‐Based Coculture System

“…As reported previously, these and other mono-cultures, do not adequately represent the environment that is important for growth of cells. [27][28][29] Mono-cultures, additionally, do not exhibit in vivo physiological behavior of cancer cells properly. [30] To provide an improved mimic of natural tumors, VXN2 and TF cells were grown as co-cultures in multi-layered paper stacks with different configurations.…”

Inventions and Innovations in Preclinical Platforms for Cancer Research

“…For instance, in an in vivo tumour microenvironment, there is continuous perfusion of oxygen and nutrients, as well as removal of cellular waste products. However, these features are absent in most in vitro cancer drug screening platforms such as microwell plates or Petri dishes [2]. This continuous perfusion and diffusion cause chemical gradients to be made in vivo at tumour sites like hypoxic core which is essential for realistic in vitro assays.…”