nsing and sending chemical messages to bacteria have yet to be built. Here we show that artificial cells that are able to sense and synthesize quorum signaling molecules can chemically communicate with V. fischeri, V. harveyi, E. coli, and P. aeruginosa. Activity was assessed by fluorescence, luminescence, RT-qPCR, and RNA-seq. Two potential applications for this technology were demonstrated. First, the extent to which artificial cells could imitate natural cells was quantified by a type of cellular Turing test. Artificial cells capable of sensing and in response synthesizing and releasing N-3-(oxohexanoyl)homoserine lactone showed a high degree of likeness to natural V. fischeri under specific test conditions. Second, artificial cells that sensed V. fischeri and in response degraded a quorum signaling molecule of P. aeruginosa (N-(3-oxododecanoyl)homoserine lactone) were constructed, laying the foundation for future technologies that control complex networks of natural cells.21:T454,We recently reported that a ribosome binding site (RBS) derived from gene 10 of bacteriophage T7 (g10-L) causes a pronounced stimulation of expression when placed upstream of a variety of genes, and that this effect is probably due to a stimulation of translation efficiency in Escherichia coli (Olins, P. O., Devine, C. S., Rangwala, S. H., Kavka, K. S. (1988) Gene (Amst.) 73, 227-235). Here we present a model for the mechanism of action of the g10-L: the RBS contains a 9-base sequence which has the potential for forming a novel base-paired interaction with bases 458-466 of the 16 S rRNA of E. coli. Although such sequence homologies are rare in E. coli RBS regions, a number of similar sequences were found in the RBS regions of other bacteriophage structural genes. When an isolated homology sequence was placed upstream of a synthetic RBS, there was a 110-fold increase in the translation efficiency of the lacZ gene. Surprisingly, the homology sequence also stimulated translation when placed downstream of the initiator codon, indicating that this sequence is acting as a translational "enhancer."

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