Center for Soft Matter Research, Department of Physics, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA.
Phys Rev Lett. 2018 Oct 5;121(14):148101. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.148101.
The nucleolus is a membraneless organelle embedded in chromatin solution inside the cell nucleus. By analyzing surface dynamics and fusion kinetics of human nucleoli in vivo, we find that the nucleolar surface exhibits subtle, but measurable, shape fluctuations and that the radius of the neck connecting two fusing nucleoli grows in time as r(t)∼t^{1/2}. This is consistent with liquid droplets with low surface tension ∼10^{-6} N m^{-1} coalescing within an outside fluid of high viscosity ∼10^{3} Pa s. Our study presents a noninvasive approach of using natural probes and their dynamics to investigate material properties of the cell and its constituents.
核仁是一种无膜细胞器,嵌入在细胞核内的染色质溶液中。通过分析活细胞中人核仁的表面动力学和融合动力学,我们发现核仁表面表现出细微但可测量的形状波动,连接两个融合核仁的颈部半径随时间增长,呈 r(t)∼t^{1/2}的关系。这与表面张力低至约 10^{-6} N m^{-1}的液滴在高粘度外部流体(约 10^{3} Pa s)中聚结一致。我们的研究提出了一种使用天然探针及其动力学来研究细胞及其成分的物质性质的非侵入性方法。