Environmental Impact of Synthetic Cell Technology: Review of Life Cycle Assessment Data for Feedstocks and Production Methods

Bottom-up synthetic cells are frequently framed as enabling technologies for a future green bioeconomy, yet their environmental impacts remain poorly quantified. Here, we review and synthesize available life cycle assessment (LCA) data for the feedstocks, production routes, and assembly methods commonly used in synthetic cell research, focusing on cradle-to-gate system boundaries. We consider lipids from plant and algal sources, amphiphilic diblock copolymers, recombinant proteins, crude and PURE (protein synthesis using recombinant elements) cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) systems, and key assembly approaches including bulk emulsification and microfluidics. We argue that many of the identified components may also play a role in future generations of synthetic cells that undergo primitive autonomous growth and cell cycles. The data illustrate how design choices in compartment composition, encapsulated biochemistry, and assembly efficiency can shift impacts by orders of magnitude. Early integration of LCA-informed design, such as favoring lower purity where functionally acceptable, using shared feedstocks, reducing material excess, and employing alternative autotrophic or solvent-free production routes, will be decisive for achieving environmentally viable synthetic cell technologies.