Work

The effect of polymer length in liquid-liquid phase separation

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: Understanding the thermodynamics that drive liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) is quite important given the number of diverse biomolecular systems undergoing this phenomenon. Many studies have focused on condensates of long polymers, but very few systems of short-polymer condensates have been observed and studied. Here, we study a short-polymer system of various lengths of poly-adenine RNA and peptides formed by the RGRGG sequence repeats to understand the underlying thermodynamics of LLPS. Using the recently developed COCOMO coarse-grained (CG) model, we predicted condensates for lengths as short as 5-10 residues, which was then confirmed by experiment, making this one of the smallest LLPS systems yet observed. A free-energy model reveals that the length dependence of condensation is driven primarily by entropy of confinement. The simplicity of this system will provide the basis for understanding more biologically realistic systems.

Source: Cell Reports Physical Science

DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2023.101415

Authors: Gilberto Valdes-Garcia, Kasun Gamage, Casey Smith, Karina Martirosova, Michael Feig, Lisa J. Lapidus

Institution: Michigan State University

Language: English

Topic: RNA Research and Splicing

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $5,460