Self-programmed enzyme phase separation and multiphase coacervate droplet organization.
TLDR
It is shown that glucose oxidase forms coacervate droplets with a cationic polysaccharide on a narrow pH range, so that enzyme-driven monotonic pH changes regulate the emergence, growth, decay and dissolution of the droplets depending on the substrate concentration.Abstract:
Membraneless organelles are phase-separated droplets that are dynamically assembled and dissolved in response to biochemical reactions in cells. Complex coacervate droplets produced by associative liquid-liquid phase separation offer a promising approach to mimic such dynamic compartmentalization. Here, we present a model for membraneless organelles based on enzyme/polyelectrolyte complex coacervates able to induce their own condensation and dissolution. We show that glucose oxidase forms coacervate droplets with a cationic polysaccharide on a narrow pH range, so that enzyme-driven monotonic pH changes regulate the emergence, growth, decay and dissolution of the droplets depending on the substrate concentration. Significantly, we demonstrate that time-programmed coacervate assembly and dissolution can be achieved in a single-enzyme system. We further exploit this self-driven enzyme phase separation to produce multiphase droplets via dynamic polyion self-sorting in the presence of a secondary coacervate phase. Taken together, our results open perspectives for the realization of programmable synthetic membraneless organelles based on self-regulated enzyme/polyelectrolyte complex coacervation.read more
Citations
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Fatty Acid Vesicles and Coacervates as Model Prebiotic Protocells
Nicolas Martin,Jean-Paul Douliez +1 more
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Building micro-capsules using water-in-water emulsion droplets as templates.
TL;DR: Water-in-water emulsion droplets have been used as templates for microencapsulation in materials chemistry as mentioned in this paper , where they can be used not only to produce membrane-bounded hollow spheres, but also in synthetic biology to assemble artificial cell-like compartments.
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Sustained enzymatic activity and flow in crowded protein droplets.
Andrea Testa,Mirco Dindo,Aleksander A. Rebane,Babak Nasouri,Robert W. Style,Ramin Golestanian,Ramin Golestanian,Eric R. Dufresne,Paola Laurino +8 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce a minimal system that operates at similar protein concentrations, metabolic densities, and length scales as living cells, and demonstrate the formation of steady pH gradients, capable of driving microscopic flows.
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Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation: Unraveling the Enigma of Biomolecular Condensates in Microbial Cells
TL;DR: A review of currently known biomolecular condensates driven by liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) in microbial cells is provided in this article, where the authors elaborate on their biogenesis mechanisms and biological functions.
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Phase Transitions in Chemically Fueled, Multiphase Complex Coacervate Droplets
TL;DR: This work describes a complex coacervate-based model composed of two polyanions and a short peptide that controls the liquidity of the droplets offering insights into how active processes inside cells play an important role in tuning the liquid state of membraneless organelles.
References
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