Physicochemical Characterization of Polymer-Stabilized Coacervate Protocells.

ABSTRACT: The bottom-up construction of cell mimics has produced a range of membrane-bound protocells that have been endowed with functionality and biochemical processes reminiscent of living systems. The contents of these compartments, however, experience semidilute conditions, whereas macromolecules in the cytosol exist in protein-rich, crowded environments that affect their physicochemical properties, such as diffusion and catalytic activity. Recently, complex coacervates have emerged as attractive protocellular models because their condensed interiors would be expected to mimic this crowding better. Here we explore some relevant physicochemical properties of a recently developed polymer-stabilized coacervate system, such as the diffusion of macromolecules in the condensed coacervate phase, relat

SUBMITTER: Yewdall NA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6851677 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature