Phase Separation in Molecular Biology
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2024) | Viewed by 2208
Special Issue Editors
Interests: phase separation; chromatin biology; genome organization; biochemistry; biophysics
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Phase separation of biological macromolecules can form sub-organellar cellular compartments called biomolecular condensates. These compartments can play diverse roles, but a growing body of evidence suggests they often function as membrane-less organelles, controlling cellular biochemistry through spatial concentration of specific components. The assembly of biomolecular condensates through phase separation relies on molecules with multivalent architecture, which form not a stoichiometrically defined higher-order complex, but networks of interaction. Multivalency can be encoded into macromolecules through repeats of structured domains, short motifs in intrinsically disordered regions, and charge-driven complexation. Depending on the lifetime of these interactions, or sites of valency, biomolecular condensates can have diverse material properties—from dynamic fluids to more static gels—which may afford diverse functionality to cellular compartments that are organized in this fashion.
While this framework of understanding for biomolecular condensates has arrived at a rapid pace, many questions remain. In this Special Issue, we focus on the following topics:
- Outline of the structural and molecular biology of phase-separated biomolecular condensates both in vitro and in cells;
- Assessment of ensembles and interactions adopted by intrinsically disordered proteins using simulations and experimentation;
- Advances in methodology used to study biomolecular condensates;
- Design and use of small molecules to target phase separation in disease;
- Engineering of natural and synthetic condensates to probe how their macroscopic features emerge from small-scale interactions.
Dr. Bryan A. Gibson
Dr. Bappaditya Chandra
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- phase separation
- membrane-less organelles
- biomolecular condensates
- intrinsically disordered proteins
- multivalent interactions
- transcription
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