Dehydration entropy drives liquid-liquid phase separation by molecular crowding

Park, Sohee; Barnes, Ryan; Lin, Yanxian; Jeon, Byoung-jin; Najafi, Saeed; Delaney, Kris T.; Fredrickson, Glenn H.; Shea, Joan-Emma; Hwang, Dong Soo; Han, Songi

doi:10.1038/s42004-020-0328-8

Title: Dehydration entropy drives liquid-liquid phase separation by molecular crowding

Journal Article · 26 June 2020 · Communications Chemistry

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-020-0328-8 · OSTI ID:1675373

^[1]; Barnes, Ryan ^[2]; Lin, Yanxian ^[2]; Jeon, Byoung-jin ^[2]; Najafi, Saeed ^[2]; Delaney, Kris T. ^[2]; Fredrickson, Glenn H. ^[2]; Shea, Joan-Emma ^[2]; Hwang, Dong Soo ^[1];

^[2]

Pohang Univ. of Science and Technology (POSTECH) (South Korea)
Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)

Complex coacervation driven liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of biopolymers has been attracting attention as a novel phase in living cells. Studies of LLPS in this context are typically of proteins harboring chemical and structural complexity, leaving unclear which properties are fundamental to complex coacervation versus protein-specific. This study focuses on the role of polyethylene glycol (PEG)—a widely used molecular crowder—in LLPS. Significantly, entropy-driven LLPS is recapitulated with charged polymers lacking hydrophobicity and sequence complexity, and its propensity dramatically enhanced by PEG. Experimental and field-theoretic simulation results are consistent with PEG driving LLPS by dehydration of polymers, and show that PEG exerts its effect without partitioning into the dense coacervate phase. Furthermore, it is then up to biology to impose additional variations of functional significance to the LLPS of biological systems.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF); National Institutes of Health (NIH); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0014427; 2016M1A5A1027592; NRF-2016M1A5A1027594; NRF-2017R1A2B3006354; R01AG05605; MCB-1716956; TG-MCA05S027; DMR-1720256; CNS-1725797

OSTI ID:: 1675373

Journal Information:: Communications Chemistry, Vol. 3, Issue 1; ISSN 2399-3669

Publisher:: Springer NatureCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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