Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

Language

English

Publication Date

8-19-2025

Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-025-62055-8

PMID

40830340

PMCID

PMC12365244

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

8-19-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

The realization that the cell is abundantly compartmentalized into biomolecular condensates has opened new opportunities for understanding the physics and chemistry underlying many cellular processes, fundamentally changing the study of biology. The term biomolecular condensate refers to non-stoichiometric assemblies that are composed of multiple types of macromolecules in cells, occur through phase transitions, and can be investigated by using concepts from soft matter physics. As such, they are intimately related to aqueous two-phase systems and water-in-water emulsions. Condensates possess tunable emergent properties such as interfaces, interfacial tension, viscoelasticity, network structure, dielectric permittivity, and sometimes interphase pH gradients and electric potentials–. They can form spontaneously in response to specific cellular conditions or to active processes, and cells appear to have mechanisms to control their size and location–. Importantly, in contrast to membrane-enclosed organelles such as mitochondria or peroxisomes, condensates do not require the presence of a surrounding membrane.

Keywords

Intrinsically disordered proteins, Supramolecular assembly

Published Open-Access

yes

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