Subcompartmentalization of polyampholyte species in organelle-like condensates is promoted by charge-pattern mismatch and strong excluded-volume interaction
Tanmoy Pal, Jonas Wessén, Suman Das, Hue Sun Chan
Abstract
Polyampholyte field theory and explicit-chain molecular dynamics models of sequence-specific phase separation of a system with two intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) species indicate consistently that a substantial polymer excluded volume and a significant mismatch of the IDP sequence charge patterns can act in concert, but not in isolation, to demix the two IDP species upon condensation. This finding reveals an energetic-geometric interplay in a stochastic, "fuzzy" molecular recognition mechanism that may facilitate subcompartmentalization of membraneless organelles.
Topics & Concepts
Charge (physics)Volume (thermodynamics)OrganelleNanotechnologyChemistryBiologyPhysicsMaterials scienceCell biologyThermodynamicsQuantum mechanicsLipid Membrane Structure and BehaviorProtein Structure and DynamicsNanopore and Nanochannel Transport Studies