Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Munich, Lichtenbergstrasse 4, 85748, Garching, Germany.
Biophysical Engineering Group, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstraße 29, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2022 Aug 8;61(32):e202203928. doi: 10.1002/anie.202203928. Epub 2022 Jun 24.
Active droplets are a great model for membraneless organelles. However, the analysis of these systems remains challenging and is often limited due to the short timescales of their kinetics. We used droplet-based microfluidics to encapsulate a fuel-driven cycle that drives phase separation into coacervate-based droplets to overcome this challenge. This approach enables the analysis of every coacervate-based droplet in the reaction container throughout its lifetime. We discovered that the fuel concentration dictates the formation of the coacervate-based droplets and their properties. We observed that coacervate-based droplets grow through fusion, decay simultaneously independent of their volume, and shrinkage rate scales with their initial volume. This method helps to further understand the regulation of membraneless organelles, and we believe the analysis of individual coacervate-based droplets enables future selection- or evolution-based studies.
活性液滴是无膜细胞器的理想模型。然而，由于其动力学的时间尺度较短，这些系统的分析仍然具有挑战性，并且往往受到限制。我们使用基于液滴的微流控技术将驱动相分离的燃料驱动循环包封到凝聚相液滴中，以克服这一挑战。这种方法能够分析反应容器中每个凝聚相液滴在其整个生命周期内的情况。我们发现燃料浓度决定了凝聚相液滴的形成及其性质。我们观察到凝聚相液滴通过融合生长，其衰减是独立于体积同时发生的，并且收缩速率与其初始体积成正比。这种方法有助于进一步了解无膜细胞器的调控，我们相信对单个凝聚相液滴的分析能够为未来的选择或进化研究提供帮助。
