Imagine that you are going to design a synthetic cell (that is, a cell you will make from scratch in the laboratory). Address why you would want to create a synthetic cell (meaning, “how could your synthetic cell’s functions help address a problem in society?”) in the context of the four questions below:

1. At minimum, what structures or components would a synthetic cell need to be considered alive? (To help you to focus on essential structures and functions, you might want to start by thinking about structures that were present in all cells we studied.)

2. Would you make your cell more similar to a prokaryote or eukaryote?

   1. Explain your reasoning for this choice.

   2. Be sure to describe which social problem your synthetic cell will address, and how.

   3. (NOTE: It is possible to provide strong reasoning for either choice, depending on which social problem / application you choose.)

3. What ingredients would you include in your synthetic cell? (Describe building blocks, such as small molecules and macromolecules).

4. How do your ingredients from Question #3 associate with each other to build functional cell machinery?