Crowding effects on the formation and maintenance of nuclear bodies: insights from molecular-dynamics simulations of simple spherical model particles.

ABSTRACT: The physics of structure formation and maintenance of nuclear bodies (NBs), such as nucleoli, Cajal bodies, promyelocytic leukemia bodies, and speckles, in a crowded nuclear environment remains largely unknown. We investigate the role of macromolecular crowding in the formation and maintenance of NBs using computer simulations of a simple spherical model, called Lennard-Jones (LJ) particles. LJ particles form a one-phase, dilute fluid when the intermolecular interaction is weaker than a critical value, above which they phase separate and form a condensed domain. We find that when volume-exclusive crowders exist in significant concentrations, domain formation is induced even for weaker intermolecular interactions, and the effect is more pronounced with increasing crowder concentration. Simu

SUBMITTER: Cho EJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3414890 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature