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| Open AccessMacromolecular condensation buffers intracellular water potential
Water thermodynamics drive changes in macromolecular assembly that rapidly restore intracellular water availability in response to physiological fluctuations in temperature, pressure and osmotic strength.
- Joseph L. Watson
- , Estere Seinkmane
- & Emmanuel Derivery
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Article |
Peroxisome biogenesis initiated by protein phase separation
A study presents evidence to support a model in which liquid–liquid phase separation of components of the transport machinery mediates formation of transient protein transport channels on peroxisomes.
- Rini Ravindran
- , Isabel O. L. Bacellar
- & Stephen W. Michnick
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Article
| Open AccessVisualizing the disordered nuclear transport machinery in situ
Previously shown as a 60-nm hole in the nuclear pore complex, the transport machinery by FG-nucleoporins is mapped.
- Miao Yu
- , Maziar Heidari
- & Edward A. Lemke
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Article |
A viral biomolecular condensate coordinates assembly of progeny particles
Phase separation of the human adenovirus 52-kDa protein has an essential role in the formation of biomolecular condensates, regulating the coordinated assembly of viral progeny particles.
- Matthew Charman
- , Nicholas Grams
- & Matthew D. Weitzman
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Article
| Open AccessA condensate dynamic instability orchestrates actomyosin cortex activation
A phase portrait study is presented that shows the chemically driven dynamics of short-lived F-actin-rich condensates that support actomyosin cortex formation.
- Victoria Tianjing Yan
- , Arjun Narayanan
- & Stephan W. Grill
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Article |
Nucleation landscape of biomolecular condensates
Experiments using endogenous and biomimetic condensates in cells show that nucleation in cells resembles the physical process in inanimate materials, but is tuned by biomolecular features.
- Shunsuke F. Shimobayashi
- , Pierre Ronceray
- & Clifford P. Brangwynne
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Article |
UTX condensation underlies its tumour-suppressive activity
Phase separation properties are a major determinant of UTX activity in chromatin regulation in tumour suppression, and are dependent on a core intrinsically disordered region of the protein.
- Bi Shi
- , Wei Li
- & Hao Jiang
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Article |
NORAD-induced Pumilio phase separation is required for genome stability
The noncoding RNA NORAD maintains genome stability in mammalian cells by sequestering Pumilio proteins in phase-separated compartments.
- Mahmoud M. Elguindy
- & Joshua T. Mendell
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Article |
Chromosome clustering by Ki-67 excludes cytoplasm during nuclear assembly
The surfactant-like protein Ki-67 mediates the clustering of chromosomes during mitotic exit, which displaces large cytoplasmic molecules from the future nuclear space and thus enables the separation of cytoplasmic and nuclear components before the nuclear envelope reforms.
- Sara Cuylen-Haering
- , Mina Petrovic
- & Daniel W. Gerlich
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Article |
A prion-like domain in ELF3 functions as a thermosensor in Arabidopsis
The adaptability of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana to different temperatures is regulated by the ability of its ELF3 protein to undergo liquid–liquid phase separation, in a manner that is dependent on the protein’s prion-like domain.
- Jae-Hoon Jung
- , Antonio D. Barbosa
- & Philip A. Wigge
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Article |
MeCP2 links heterochromatin condensates and neurodevelopmental disease
The chromatin protein MeCP2 is a component of dynamic, liquid-like heterochromatin condensates, and the ability of MeCP2 to form condensates is disrupted by mutations in the MECP2 gene that occur in the neurodevelopmental disorder Rett syndrome.
- Charles H. Li
- , Eliot L. Coffey
- & Richard A. Young
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Article |
LEM2 phase separation promotes ESCRT-mediated nuclear envelope reformation
Following cell division, phase separation of the transmembrane adaptor LEM2 ensures that the ESCRT machinery remodels microtubules and seals the nuclear envelope.
- Alexander von Appen
- , Dollie LaJoie
- & Adam Frost
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Letter |
The entropic force generated by intrinsically disordered segments tunes protein function
The carboxy terminus of human UDP-α-d-glucose-6-dehydrogenase is structurally disordered, but has sequence-independent effects on the conformation of the enzyme and binding of an allosteric inhibitor, suggesting a reason for the persistence of intrinsically disordered peptide segments in the proteome.
- Nicholas D. Keul
- , Krishnadev Oruganty
- & Zachary A. Wood
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Letter |
Phase-separation mechanism for C-terminal hyperphosphorylation of RNA polymerase II
The histidine-rich domain of cyclin T1 promotes phase separation into liquid droplets, which facilitates the hyperphosphorylation of the C-terminal domain repeats of RNA polymerase II.
- Huasong Lu
- , Dan Yu
- & Qiang Zhou
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Article |
Spatiotemporal regulation of liquid-like condensates in epigenetic inheritance
ZNFX-1 and WAGO-4 localize to germ granules in early Caenorhabditis elegans embryogenesis and later separate to form independent liquid-like droplets, and the temporal and spatial ordering of these droplets may help cells to organize complex RNA processing pathways.
- Gang Wan
- , Brandon D. Fields
- & Scott Kennedy
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Article |
Extreme disorder in an ultrahigh-affinity protein complex
A high-affinity complex of histone H1 and prothymosin-α reveals an unexpected interaction mechanism, where the large opposite net charge enables the two proteins to remain highly disordered even in the complex.
- Alessandro Borgia
- , Madeleine B. Borgia
- & Benjamin Schuler
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Letter |
Phase separation drives heterochromatin domain formation
HP1a can nucleate into foci that display liquid properties during the early stages of heterochromatin domain formation in Drosophila embryos, suggesting that the repressive action of heterochromatin may be mediated in part by emergent properties of phase separation.
- Amy R. Strom
- , Alexander V. Emelyanov
- & Gary H. Karpen
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Letter |
Hypersensitive termination of the hypoxic response by a disordered protein switch
The intrinsically disordered CITED2 negative feedback regulator displaces the tightly bound hypoxia-inducible transcription factor HIF-1α from their common target TAZ1 through the formation of an intermediate ternary complex and thereby attenuates the hypoxic response.
- Rebecca B. Berlow
- , H. Jane Dyson
- & Peter E. Wright
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Article |
Structural disorder of monomeric α-synuclein persists in mammalian cells
Atomic resolution in-cell NMR and EPR spectroscopy show that the human amyloid protein α-synuclein remains disordered within all mammalian cells tested, including neurons, and identifies which parts of the protein dynamically interact or remain shielded from the cytoplasm, thus counteracting aggregation under physiological cell conditions.
- Francois-Xavier Theillet
- , Andres Binolfi
- & Philipp Selenko
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Letter |
Modulation of allostery by protein intrinsic disorder
Single-molecule FRET is used to examine how an intrinsically disordered protein, the adenovirus E1A oncoprotein, interacts with two different protein partners (the pocket domain of pRb and the TAZ2 domain of CBP/p300); the biophysical behaviour of E1A depends on whether the N-terminal region and/or the CR2 region of E1A is free to interact with potential protein partners or whether they are ‘masked’ (that is, via their absence or a pre-existing interaction with another protein partner).
- Allan Chris M. Ferreon
- , Josephine C. Ferreon
- & Ashok A. Deniz
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Brief Communications Arising |
Properties of native brain α-synuclein
- Jacqueline Burré
- , Sandro Vivona
- & Thomas C. Südhof
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News Feature |
Prions and chaperones: Outside the fold
Susan Lindquist has challenged conventional thinking on how misfolded proteins drive disease and may power evolution. But she still finds that criticism stings.
- Bijal P. Trivedi
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News |
Dying for a long life
A chemical that stains Alzheimer's-associated proteins may help cells to cope with toxic trash.
- Ewen Callaway