Liquid–liquid phase separation in artificial cells

Liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) in biology is a recently appreciated means of intracellular compartmentalization. Because the mechanisms driving phase separations are grounded in physical interactions, they can be recreated within less complex systems consisting of only a few simple components...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInterface focus Vol. 8; no. 5; p. 20180032
Main Authors Crowe, Charles D., Keating, Christine D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England The Royal Society 06.10.2018
Royal Society
Subjects
Aqueous Two-Phase System
Coacervate
Droplet
Life Sciences & Biomedicine - Other Topics
Review
Synthetic Cytoplasm
aqueous two-phase system
synthetic cytoplasm
coacervate
droplet
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Summary:Liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) in biology is a recently appreciated means of intracellular compartmentalization. Because the mechanisms driving phase separations are grounded in physical interactions, they can be recreated within less complex systems consisting of only a few simple components, to serve as artificial microcompartments. Within these simple systems, the effect of compartmentalization and microenvironments upon biological reactions and processes can be studied. This review will explore several approaches to incorporating LLPS as artificial cytoplasms and in artificial cells, including both segregative and associative phase separation.
Bibliography:Theme issue ‘The artificial cell: biology-inspired compartmentalization of chemical function’ organised by Paul A. Beales, Barbara Ciani and Stephen Mann
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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USDOE Office of Science (SC)
SC0008633
One contribution of 7 to a theme issue ‘The artificial cell: biology-inspired compartmentalization of chemical function’.
ISSN:2042-8898
2042-8901
DOI:10.1098/rsfs.2018.0032