扩展蛋白质液-液相分离的分子语言。
Expanding the molecular language of protein liquid-liquid phase separation.
机构信息
Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA.
出版信息
Nat Chem. 2024 Jul;16(7):1113-1124. doi: 10.1038/s41557-024-01489-x. Epub 2024 Mar 29.
Understanding the relationship between a polypeptide sequence and its phase separation has important implications for analysing cellular function, treating disease and designing novel biomaterials. Several sequence features have been identified as drivers for protein liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), schematized as a 'molecular grammar' for LLPS. Here we further probe how sequence modulates phase separation and the material properties of the resulting condensates, targeting sequence features previously overlooked in the literature. We generate sequence variants of a repeat polypeptide with either no charged residues, high net charge, no glycine residues or devoid of aromatic or arginine residues. All but one of 12 variants exhibited LLPS, albeit to different extents, despite substantial differences in composition. Furthermore, we find that all the condensates formed behaved like viscous fluids, despite large differences in their viscosities. Our results support the model of multiple interactions between diverse residue pairs-not just a handful of residues-working in tandem to drive the phase separation and dynamics of condensates.
理解多肽序列与其相分离之间的关系对分析细胞功能、治疗疾病和设计新型生物材料具有重要意义。已经确定了几个序列特征可作为蛋白质液-液相分离(LLPS)的驱动因素,可概括为 LLPS 的“分子语法”。在这里,我们进一步探究序列如何调节相分离以及由此产生的凝聚物的材料特性,针对文献中以前被忽视的序列特征。我们生成具有不带电荷残基、高净电荷、不带甘氨酸残基或不含芳香族或精氨酸残基的重复多肽的序列变体。尽管组成有很大差异,但 12 个变体中的除一个外,其余都表现出 LLPS,尽管程度不同。此外,我们发现尽管它们的粘度有很大差异,但所有形成的凝聚物都表现为粘性流体。我们的结果支持多种不同残基对之间的多种相互作用模型,而不仅仅是少数几个残基协同作用,从而驱动凝聚物的相分离和动力学。