Excluded-volume effects in living cells.

ABSTRACT: Biomolecules evolve and function in densely crowded and highly heterogeneous cellular environments. Such conditions are often mimicked in the test tube by the addition of artificial macromolecular crowding agents. Still, it is unclear if such cosolutes indeed reflect the physicochemical properties of the cellular environment as the in-cell crowding effect has not yet been quantified. We have developed a macromolecular crowding sensor based on a FRET-labeled polymer to probe the macromolecular crowding effect inside single living cells. Surprisingly, we find that excluded-volume effects, although observed in the presence of artificial crowding agents, do not lead to a compression of the sensor in the cell. The average conformation of the sensor is similar to that in aqueous buffer solution

SUBMITTER: Gnutt D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4506553 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature