Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, UMR5031, Pessac, France; Ecole Normale Supérieure d'Ulm, Paris, France.
Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, UMR5031, Pessac, France.
Methods Enzymol. 2021;646:329-351. doi: 10.1016/bs.mie.2020.06.013. Epub 2020 Jul 10.
Coacervate micro-droplets produced by liquid-liquid phase separation are increasingly used to emulate the dynamical organization of membraneless organelles found in living cells. Designing synthetic coacervates able to be formed and disassembled with improved spatiotemporal control is still challenging. In this chapter, we describe the design of photoswitchable coacervate droplets produced by phase separation of short double stranded DNA in the presence of an azobenzene cation. The droplets can be reversibly dissolved with light, which provides a new approach for the spatiotemporal regulation of coacervation. Significantly, the dynamics of light-actuated droplet formation and dissolution correlates with the capture and release of guest solutes. The reported system can find applications for the dynamic photocontrol of biomolecule compartmentalization, paving the way to the light-activated regulation of signaling pathways in artificial membraneless organelles.
液-液相分离产生的凝聚微滴越来越多地被用于模拟活细胞中无膜细胞器的动态组织。设计能够改进时空控制的可形成和可分解的合成凝聚物仍然具有挑战性。在本章中，我们描述了在存在偶氮苯阳离子的情况下，通过短双链 DNA 的相分离产生的光可切换凝聚液滴的设计。液滴可以用光照可逆溶解，这为凝聚作用的时空调节提供了一种新方法。重要的是，光驱动液滴形成和溶解的动力学与客体溶质的捕获和释放相关。所报道的系统可用于生物分子区室化的动态光控，为无膜细胞器中信号通路的光激活调节铺平道路。
