Review
Chemistry, Physical
Jelena Dinic, B. Amanda Marciel, V. Matthew Tirrell
Summary: This review examines the current understanding of molecular interactions governing liquid-liquid phase separation of biological condensates, focusing on how charge patterns influence the conformation and phase behavior of IDPs, and theoretical treatments of polyampholytes showing that increased charge segregation leads to a higher tendency for phase separation.
CURRENT OPINION IN COLLOID & INTERFACE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Chelsea E. R. Edwards, Kareem L. Lakkis, Yimin Luo, Matthew E. Helgeson
Summary: The non-equilibrium processing of aqueous polyelectrolyte complex coacervates is crucial for many applications. This study reveals the influence of flow conditions on the coarsening mechanism of the complex and demonstrates that flow conditions can control the formation of rough, precipitate-like aggregates. The results also show that these aggregates undergo micron-scale coarsening with a mixing time-dependent aging time scale.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Wen Ann Wee, Hiroshi Sugiyama, Soyoung Park
Summary: This study demonstrates the light-controlled formation and disassembly of liquid droplets composed of a complex of polylysine and arylazopyrazole-conjugated single-stranded DNA, showing potential for regulating chemical reactions through dynamic LLPS.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Hedi Karoui, Marianne J. Seck, Nicolas Martin
Summary: Membraneless organelles are phase-separated droplets dynamically assembled and dissolved in response to biochemical reactions. Enzyme/polyelectrolyte complex coacervates can induce their own condensation and dissolution, with time-programmed assembly and dissolution achieved in a single-enzyme system, leading to the production of multiphase droplets via dynamic polyion self-sorting. This approach opens perspectives for programmable synthetic membraneless organelles based on self-regulated enzyme/polyelectrolyte complex coacervation.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Maria Tsanai, Pim W. J. M. Frederix, Carsten F. E. Schroer, Paulo C. T. Souza, Siewert J. Marrink
Summary: Complex coacervates are liquid-liquid phase separated systems containing oppositely charged polyelectrolytes, studied for their dynamic nature and functional properties. Simulation of their diffusion and partitioning is crucial for understanding their characteristics.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ryou Kubota, Taro Hiroi, Yuriki Ikuta, Yuchong Liu, Itaru Hamachi
Summary: Coacervates, formed by liquid-liquid phase separation, have been studied as models for synthetic cells and membraneless organelles. This study provides in-depth structural analysis of a dipeptide-based coacervate, revealing the emergence and dynamic fluctuation of a three-dimensional sponge-like network. These findings contribute to a better understanding of synthetic coacervates and open up opportunities for manipulating their properties for potential applications.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Polymer Science
Takuya Mabuchi, Junko Kijima, Yukino Yamashita, Erika Miura, Takahiro Muraoka
Summary: In this study, coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations were used to investigate the formation and properties of elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) coacervates. It was found that coacervate formation was enhanced with increasing polymer concentration and length, while the internal structure and dynamics properties inside the coacervate phase remained similar. The ion and water concentrations as well as the diffusion coefficients of water inside a coacervate were reduced compared to bulk water. The simulations also demonstrated the preferential partitioning of RNA polymers inside coacervates based on their hydrophobic modification. These findings provide insights into controlling coacervate formation and stability under various conditions and have implications for the design of new biopolymers with desired properties.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mo Yang, Zachary A. Digby, Yuhui Chen, Joseph B. Schlenoff
Summary: Spontaneous phase separation is a powerful and ubiquitous mechanism for assembling natural and synthetic materials. Two critical phenomena in coacervation science and technology are the transition between mixed and separated phases of polyelectrolytes coacervated with small molecules, and the viscoelastic transition mediated by the addition of an additional charge.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Seo Hyeong Park, Sang-Eun Lee, Jun Hyoung Jeon, Jung Hoon Lee, Eisuke Itakura, Sunghoe Chang, Won Hoon Choi, Min Jae Lee
Summary: Spatiotemporal sequestration of misfolded proteins forms aggresomes, which are large, juxtanuclear, membrane-less inclusions. The molecular mechanisms of aggresome formation, clearance, and pathophysiology are being investigated, but the biophysical properties of aggresomes remain poorly understood.
BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-GENE REGULATORY MECHANISMS
(2023)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Mutian Hua, Dong Wu, Shuwang Wu, Yanfei Ma, Yousif Alsaid, Ximin He
Summary: Hydrogels with stimuli-responsive volume changing abilities are being used in soft actuators and robots, but traditional tough hydrogels cannot satisfy both high toughness and high stimuli responsiveness. This study introduces a material design that combines responsive and tough components in a single hydrogel network, allowing for the synergistic realization of high toughness and actuation performance.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yue Yan, Wenjing Mu, He Li, Chuwen Song, Yan Qiao, Yiyang Lin
Summary: Living systems create complex structures and functions through self-organization in various equilibrium and non-equilibrium states. This study reports the assembly of cell-sized coacervate microdroplets under non-equilibrium conditions, exhibiting collective dynamics and autonomous behaviors. The design of these constructs can shed light on the creation of life-like soft materials with autonomous motion and may serve as nonbiological models for intercellular communication.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Review
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Xi Zhang, Shazed Aziz, Bidita Salahuddin, Zhonghua Zhu
Summary: Thermoresponsive hydrogels are intelligent materials that show rapid volumetric shape deformation in response to temperature change. They have great potential for various applications including soft robotics, medical devices, sensors, and smart textiles.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Nikola Majstorovic, Jens Pechtold, Seema Agarwal
Summary: Functional thermoresponsive copolymers were synthesized and used to form water-soluble biohybrid nanogels through a reaction with an enzyme. The size of the nanogels increased with temperature, leading to an increase in enzyme activity. These reactive copolymer nanogels can be used to modulate enzyme activity and serve as initiation sites for further polymerization reactions.
ACS APPLIED POLYMER MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Polymer Science
Noam Y. Steinman, Abraham J. Domb
Summary: The thermoresponsive polymer hydrogel introduced in the article contains covalent disulfide bonds for immediate collapse and ester bonds for slow degradation. This polymeric hydrogel is capable of controlled release of therapeutics by either immediate or long-term degradation.
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Lilusi Ma, Xiaocui Fang, Chen Wang
Summary: This review introduces different types of peptide-based coacervates and their principles of interactions. Additionally, it summarizes the thermodynamic and kinetic mechanisms of peptide-based coacervates and the factors affecting the phase separation process. Recent studies on modulating the functions of peptide-based coacervates applied in biological diseases are illustrated. The promising broad applications and challenges of peptide-based coacervates in the future are also proposed.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)