ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2020
Enzymatic degradation of liquid droplets of DNA is modulated near the phase boundary.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 82 citations in OpenAlex.
- Molecular Crowding Stabilizes DNA Coacervate Droplets and Generates Self-Organized Characteristic Patterns.JACS Au · 2026Article
- Designing DNA nanostar hydrogels for sequence-specific degradation and antibody release.Soft matter · 2026Article
- Diverse, distinct, and densely packed DNA nanostar droplets.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Expression of nano-engineered RNA organelles in bacteria.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Internal Phase Separation in Synthetic DNA Condensates.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Switchable RNA motifs for dynamic transcriptional control of RNA condensates.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Remote-controlled mechanical and directional motions of photoswitchable DNA condensates.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Enzyme- and DNAzyme-Driven Transient Assembly of DNA-Based Phase-Separated Coacervate Microdroplets.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025Article
- Oligolysine Enhances and Inhibits DNA Condensate Formation.ACS omega · 2025Article
- Spatiotemporal dynamic and catalytically mediated reconfiguration of compartmentalized cyanuric acid/polyadenine DNA microdroplet condensates.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Spatial Control over Reactions via Localized Transcription within Membraneless DNA Nanostar Droplets.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2024Article
- Enzyme-Responsive DNA Condensates.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2024Article
- Article
- Co-transcriptional production of programmable RNA condensates and synthetic organelles.Nature nanotechnology · 2024Article
- Temporally controlled multistep division of DNA droplets for dynamic artificial cells.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Article
- DNA-empowered synthetic cells as minimalistic life forms.Nature reviews. Chemistry · 2024Review
- A facile DNA coacervate platform for engineering wetting, engulfment, fusion and transient behavior.Communications chemistry · 2024Article
- Dynamic control of DNA condensation.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Programmable all-DNA hydrogels based on rolling circle and multiprimed chain amplification products.APL bioengineering · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Biomolecules can undergo liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), forming dense droplets that are increasingly understood to be important for cellular function. Analogous systems are studied as early-life compartmentalization mechanisms, for applications as protocells, or as drug-delivery vehicles. In many of these situations, interactions between the droplet and enzymatic solutes are important to achieve certain functions. To explore this, we carried out experiments in which a model LLPS system, formed from DNA "nanostar" particles, interacted with a DNA-cleaving restriction enzyme, SmaI, whose activity degraded the droplets, causing them to shrink with time. By controlling adhesion of the DNA droplet to a glass surface, we were able to carry out time-resolved imaging of this "active dissolution" process. We found that the scaling properties of droplet shrinking were sensitive to the proximity to the dissolution ("boiling") temperature of the dense liquid: For systems far from the boiling point, enzymes acted only on the droplet surface, while systems poised near the boiling point permitted enzyme penetration. This was corroborated by the observation of enzyme-induced vacuole-formation ("bubbling") events, which can only occur through enzyme internalization, and which occurred only in systems poised near the boiling point. Overall, our results demonstrate a mechanism through which the phase stability of a liquid affects its enzymatic degradation through modulation of enzyme transport properties.
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