Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1B1, Canada.
Department of Physics, McGill University Montreal, QC H3A 2T8, Canada.
Biochem Soc Trans. 2020 Dec 18;48(6):2591-2602. doi: 10.1042/BST20200351.
Biomolecular condensates comprise a diverse and ubiquitous class of membraneless organelles. Condensate assembly is often described by liquid-liquid phase separation. While this process explains many key features, it cannot account for the compositional or architectural complexity that condensates display in cells. Recent work has begun to dissect the rich network of intermolecular interactions that give rise to biomolecular condensates. Here, we review the latest results from theory, simulations and experiments, and discuss what they reveal about the structure-function relationship of condensates.
生物分子凝聚物包含一类多样化且普遍存在的无膜细胞器。凝聚物的组装通常通过液-液相分离来描述。虽然这个过程解释了许多关键特征,但它不能说明凝聚物在细胞中表现出的组成或结构复杂性。最近的工作已经开始剖析导致生物分子凝聚物形成的丰富的分子间相互作用网络。在这里,我们回顾了来自理论、模拟和实验的最新结果,并讨论了它们揭示的凝聚物结构-功能关系。