Optical characterization of molecular interaction strength in protein condensates.

ABSTRACT: Biomolecular condensates have been identified as a ubiquitous means of intracellular organization, exhibiting very diverse material properties. However, techniques to characterize these material properties and their underlying molecular interactions are scarce. Here, we introduce two optical techniques-Brillouin microscopy and quantitative phase imaging (QPI)-to address this scarcity. We establish Brillouin shift and linewidth as measures for average molecular interaction and dissipation strength, respectively, and we used QPI to obtain the protein concentration within the condensates. We monitored the response of condensates formed by fused in sarcoma (FUS) and by the low-complexity domain of hnRNPA1 (A1-LCD) to altering temperature and ion concentration. Conditions favoring phase separat

SUBMITTER: Beck T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11656476 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature