Department of Biochemistry, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute and the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
Nat Rev Microbiol. 2017 May;15(5):309-318. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro.2017.17. Epub 2017 Mar 27.
Macromolecular crowding affects the mobility of biomolecules, protein folding and stability, and the association of macromolecules with each other. Local differences in crowding that arise as a result of subcellular components and supramolecular assemblies contribute to the structural organization of the cytoplasm. In this Opinion article we discuss how macromolecular crowding affects the physicochemistry of the cytoplasm and how this, in turn, affects microbial physiology. We propose that cells maintain the overall concentration of macromolecules within a narrow range and discuss possible mechanisms for achieving crowding homeostasis. In addition, we propose that the term 'homeocrowding' is used to describe the process by which cells maintain relatively constant levels of macromolecules.
大分子拥挤会影响生物分子的流动性、蛋白质折叠和稳定性，以及大分子之间的相互作用。细胞质的结构组织是由亚细胞成分和超分子组装产生的局部拥挤差异所导致的。在这篇观点文章中，我们讨论了大分子拥挤如何影响细胞质的物理化学性质，以及这反过来如何影响微生物生理学。我们提出细胞将大分子的总体浓度维持在一个狭窄的范围内，并讨论了实现拥挤平衡的可能机制。此外，我们还提出了“同型拥挤”这个术语来描述细胞维持相对恒定的大分子水平的过程。
