Uversky Vladimir N
Department of Molecular Medicine and USF Health Byrd Alzheimer's Research Institute, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.
Subcell Biochem. 2025;109:1-14. doi: 10.1007/978-3-032-03370-3_1.
Although cellular environment represents a kind of pottage with the increased viscosity and molecular interactions, changed water activity, volume exclusion, and considerably restricted amounts of free water, most of the biomolecular research in vitro is traditionally conducted under the "physiological conditions"; i.e., in warm, slightly salted, neutral or slightly alkaline aqueous solution, where the effects of such crowded environment on the behavior of biological macromolecules are mostly ignored. Furthermore, macromolecular crowding is spatially and temporally heterogeneous, as cell contains numerous biological condensates, overcrowded liquid droplets, which, being formed in response to the changing environment, reflect complexity of the cellular molecular kitchen. This chapter represents a brief historical overview of the developments in the field of macromolecular crowding reflecting the evolution of understanding of what are the appropriate experimental conditions for gaining the most accurate information on the behavior of biological macromolecule in biological systems.
尽管细胞环境就像是一种汤羹，具有增加的粘度和分子相互作用、改变的水活性、体积排阻以及大量受限的自由水，但传统上大多数体外生物分子研究都是在“生理条件”下进行的；即在温暖、微咸、中性或微碱性水溶液中进行，而这种拥挤环境对生物大分子行为的影响大多被忽略。此外，大分子拥挤在空间和时间上是异质的，因为细胞包含众多生物凝聚物、过度拥挤的液滴，这些液滴是响应不断变化的环境而形成的，反映了细胞分子环境的复杂性。本章简要回顾了大分子拥挤领域的发展历程，反映了人们对于何种实验条件能获取生物系统中生物大分子行为最准确信息的理解的演变。
