Designing Electrostatic Interactions via Polyelectrolyte Monomer Sequence.

ABSTRACT: Charged polymers are ubiquitous in biological systems because electrostatic interactions can drive complicated structure formation and respond to environmental parameters such as ionic strength and pH. In these systems, function emerges from sophisticated molecular design; for example, intrinsically disordered proteins leverage specific sequences of monomeric charges to control the formation and function of intracellular compartments known as membraneless organelles. The role of a charged monomer sequence in dictating the strength of electrostatic interactions remains poorly understood despite extensive evidence that sequence is a powerful tool biology uses to tune soft materials. In this article, we use a combination of theory, experiment, and simulation to establish the physical principl

SUBMITTER: Lytle TK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6487445 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature