ArticleNature chemistry2021
A short peptide synthon for liquid-liquid phase separation.
Article in Nature chemistry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 131 papers.
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Who cites it
131 citing papers in PubMed, 301 citations in OpenAlex.
- Seeing the Chemistry of Biomolecular Condensates: In Situ Mapping of Composition and Water Content.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- In Silicon Deciphering Atomic-Scale Structural Units in Peptide Glass.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Article
- Pathway Controlled Phase Separation of Minimal Building Blocks Utilizing a Dissociative Chemical Transformation.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Article
- Programming Multidomain Peptides With Molecular Frustration Into Biomolecular Condensates.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- Reversible Redox-Responsive Peptide Condensates With RNA.Chembiochem : a European journal of chemical biology · 2026Article
- Biomolecular condensates can function as inherent catalysts.Molecular cell · 2026Article
- Design of Fuel-Dependent, Complex-Coacervate-Based Synthetic Cells.Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- Dynamic and Catalytic Multiphase Coacervates.Biomacromolecules · 2026Article
- Programmable Multiphasic Condensates Formed via Evaporation-Induced Phase Separation of Minimal Peptide Model.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Sequence-Defined Short Peptide-Derived Coacervate Vesicles for Targeted Therapeutics.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Adaptive Coacervate Microreactors with Broad pH/Thermal Tolerance for Reaction Acceleration.JACS Au · 2026Article
- GSH-Responsive Co-Delivery of Chrysin and 3‑Methyladenine Disrupts Tumor Adaptive Stress for Synergistic Antitumor Therapy.ACS omega · 2026Article
- Diastereomeric Configuration Modulates Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation and Catalysis in Minimalist Dipeptide Coacervates.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Article
- Reversible Nucleolar Complex Coacervation by Short Cationic Peptides.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2026Article
- Biomolecular condensates mediate C-N bond formation.Nature chemical biology · 2026Article
- Shadow metabolism at interfaces.Nature chemical biology · 2026Article
- Peptide-Metal Cation Coacervate Microdroplets as Membrane-free Protocells with Enhanced Light-Induced Catalysis.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- Condensates as Conformation Editors of Disordered Client Proteins.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2026Article
- Programmable Coacervates Based on Minimalist Sticker-Spacer Frameworks: Chemical Design, Functions, and Emerging Applications.ACS applied materials & interfaces · 2026Review
- Coacervate-Mediated Lysosome-Targeting Antibody Delivery for Protein Degradation.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
71 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Liquid-liquid phase separation of disordered proteins has emerged as a ubiquitous route to membraneless compartments in living cells, and similar coacervates may have played a role when the first cells formed. However, existing coacervates are typically made of multiple macromolecular components, and designing short peptide analogues capable of self-coacervation has proven difficult. Here we present a short peptide synthon for phase separation, made of only two dipeptide stickers linked via a flexible, hydrophilic spacer. These small-molecule compounds self-coacervate into micrometre-sized liquid droplets at sub-millimolar concentrations, which retain up to 75 wt% water. The design is general and we derive guidelines for the required sticker hydrophobicity and spacer polarity. To illustrate their potential as protocells, we create a disulfide-linked derivative that undergoes reversible compartmentalization controlled by redox chemistry. The resulting coacervates sequester and melt nucleic acids, and act as microreactors that catalyse two different anabolic reactions yielding molecules of increasing complexity. This provides a stepping stone for new coacervate-based protocells made of single peptide species.
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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.