Mechanisms of Scaffold-Mediated Microcompartment Assembly and Size Control.

ABSTRACT: This article describes a theoretical and computational study of the dynamical assembly of a protein shell around a complex consisting of many cargo molecules and long, flexible scaffold molecules. Our study is motivated by bacterial microcompartments, which are proteinaceous organelles that assemble around a condensed droplet of enzymes and reactants. As in many examples of cytoplasmic liquid-liquid phase separation, condensation of the microcompartment interior cargo is driven by flexible scaffold proteins that have weak multivalent interactions with the cargo. Our results predict that the shell size, amount of encapsulated cargo, and assembly pathways depend sensitively on properties of the scaffold, including its length and valency of scaffold-cargo interactions. Moreover, the ability o

SUBMITTER: Mohajerani F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8058603 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature