Controlling composition of coexisting phases via molecular transitions.

ABSTRACT: Phase separation and transitions among different molecular states are ubiquitous in living cells. Such transitions can be governed by local equilibrium thermodynamics or by active processes controlled by biological fuel. It remains largely unexplored how the behavior of phase-separating systems with molecular transitions differs between thermodynamic equilibrium and cases in which the detailed balance of the molecular transition rates is broken because of the presence of fuel. Here, we present a model of a phase-separating ternary mixture in which two components can convert into each other. At thermodynamic equilibrium, we find that molecular transitions can give rise to a lower dissolution temperature and thus reentrant phase behavior. Moreover, we find a discontinuous thermodynamic phase

SUBMITTER: Bartolucci G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8595902 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature