The key role of solvent in condensation: Mapping water in liquid-liquid phase-separated FUS.

ABSTRACT: Formation of biomolecular condensates through liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) has emerged as a pervasive principle in cell biology, allowing compartmentalization and spatiotemporal regulation of dynamic cellular processes. Proteins that form condensates under physiological conditions often contain intrinsically disordered regions with low-complexity domains. Among them, the RNA-binding proteins FUS and TDP-43 have been a focus of intense investigation because aberrant condensation and aggregation of these proteins is linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia. LLPS occurs when protein-rich condensates form surrounded by a dilute aqueous solution. LLPS is per se entropically unfavorable. Energetically favorable multivalent pr

SUBMITTER: Ahlers J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8059208 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature