Tong Xinxin, Zhang Daixi, Zhu Zhenhong
The Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Standardization of Chinese Medicine, Key Laboratory of Systematic Research of Distinctive Chinese Medicine Resources in Southwest China, Resources Breeding Base of Co-Founded, School of Pharmacy, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 611137, China.
School of Life Science, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China.
J Fungi (Basel). 2025 Sep 17;11(9):680. doi: 10.3390/jof11090680.
Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) is a fundamental biophysical process in which proteins and nucleic acids dynamically demix from the cellular milieu to form membraneless organelles (MLO) with liquid-like properties. Environmental cues, such as light, temperature fluctuations, and pathogen interactions, induce LLPS of fungal proteins with intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) or multimerization domains, thereby regulating fungal hyphal growth, sexual reproduction, pathogenesis, and adaptation. Recently, LLPS has emerged as a powerful tool for biomolecular research, innovative biotechnological application, biosynthesis and metabolic engineering. This review focuses on the current advances in environmental cue-triggered fungal condensates assembled by LLPS, with a focus on their roles in regulating the fungal physical biology and cellular processes including transcription, RNA modification, translation, posttranslational modification process (PTM), transport, and stress response. It further discusses the strategies of engineering synthetic biomolecular condensates in microbial cell factories to enhance production and metabolic efficiency.
液-液相分离（LLPS）是一种基本的生物物理过程，其中蛋白质和核酸从细胞环境中动态分离，形成具有液体样性质的无膜细胞器（MLO）。环境线索，如光、温度波动和病原体相互作用，会诱导具有内在无序区域（IDR）或多聚化结构域的真菌蛋白质发生LLPS，从而调节真菌菌丝生长、有性生殖、致病性和适应性。最近，LLPS已成为生物分子研究、创新生物技术应用、生物合成和代谢工程的有力工具。本综述重点关注由LLPS组装的环境线索触发的真菌凝聚物的当前进展，重点关注它们在调节真菌物理生物学和细胞过程（包括转录、RNA修饰、翻译、翻译后修饰过程（PTM）、运输和应激反应）中的作用。它还讨论了在微生物细胞工厂中工程化合成生物分子凝聚物以提高生产和代谢效率的策略。
