ArticleBMC biophysics2011
An upper limit for macromolecular crowding effects.
Article in BMC biophysics, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Association BetweenPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Pooled it
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- Dynamic, Reconfigurable, and Hierarchical Biosynthetic Composites via Collagen Self-Assembly within Highly Crowded Microgel Pastes.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Identification of Metabolic Pathways and Hub Genes Associated with Ultrasound Subcutaneous Fat and Muscle Depth of the Longissimus Muscle in Cull Beef Cows Using Gene Co-Expression Analysis.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of positive allosteric modulators of metabotropic glutamate receptor 2/3 (mGluR2/3) in animal models of schizophrenia.Translational psychiatry · 2025Review
- Association BetweenInfection and drug resistance · 2025Review
- Probing Interdomain Linkers and Protein Supertertiary Structure In Vitro and in Live Cells with Fluorescent Protein Resonance Energy Transfer.Journal of molecular biology · 2021Article
- The Role of Screening in Depression Diagnosis and Treatment in a Representative Sample of US Primary Care Visits.Journal of general internal medicine · 2020Article
- Vitamin D as a follicular marker of human oocyte quality and a serum marker of in vitro fertilization outcome.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2018Article
- Crowding in Cellular Environments at an Atomistic Level from Computer Simulations.The journal of physical chemistry. B · 2017Article
- Molecular Effects of Concentrated Solutes on Protein Hydration, Dynamics, and Electrostatics.Biophysical journal · 2016Article
- Analysis of the size dependence of macromolecular crowding shows that smaller is better.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2015Article
- Comparing protein folding in vitro and in vivo: foldability meets the fitness challenge.Current opinion in structural biology · 2014Review
- Structured crowding and its effects on enzyme catalysis.Topics in current chemistry · 2013Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSolutions containing high macromolecule concentrations are predicted to affect a number of protein properties compared to those properties in dilute solution. In cells, these macromolecular crowders have a large range of sizes and can occupy 30% or more of the available volume. We chose to study the stability and ps-ns internal dynamics of a globular protein whose radius is ~2 nm when crowded by a synthetic microgel composed of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid) with particle radii of ~300 nm.
resultsOur studies revealed no change in protein rotational or ps-ns backbone dynamics and only mild (~0.5 kcal/mol at 37°C, pH 5.4) stabilization at a volume occupancy of 70%, which approaches the occupancy of closely packing spheres. The lack of change in rotational dynamics indicates the absence of strong crowder-protein interactions.
conclusionsOur observations are explained by the large size discrepancy between the protein and crowders and by the internal structure of the microgels, which provide interstitial spaces and internal pores where the protein can exist in a dilute solution-like environment. In summary, microgels that interact weakly with proteins do not strongly influence protein dynamics or stability because these large microgels constitute an upper size limit on crowding effects.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.