ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2021
Amphiphilic proteins coassemble into multiphasic condensates and act as biomolecular surfactants.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 66 papers.
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Who cites it
66 citing papers in PubMed, 109 citations in OpenAlex.
- Insertion or deletion variants in TAF15 exon 15 are genetic factors impacting the prognosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in a Japanese cohort.European journal of human genetics : EJHG · 2026Article
- Inhibition and Formation of Amyloid Fibrils in the Bulk and at the Interface of Biomolecular Condensates.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Review
- Redox-Dependent Chaperoning of GBF1 Condensates Regulates Seed Germination in Arabidopsis.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Organization and Triggered Release of Liposomes with DNA-Based Synthetic Condensates.ACS nano · 2026Article
- PRC1 nanoglobules organize Hox chromatin during Drosophila embryogenesis.Cell discovery · 2026Article
- Article
- De novo design of peptides localizing at the interface of biomolecular condensates.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Ki-67 shapes the nucleolus by anchoring chromatin via its amphiphilic properties.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- A molecular grammar for programmable multiphase protein-RNA vesicles.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Diverse, distinct, and densely packed DNA nanostar droplets.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Protein codes and mobility together shape cellular function and disease.Trends in biochemical sciences · 2026Review
- Hierarchical interactions between nucleolar and heterochromatin condensates are mediated by a dual-affinity protein.Nature cell biology · 2025Article
- Controlling interfacial protein adsorption, desorption and aggregation in biomolecular condensates.Nature communications · 2025Article
- POMPOMS: Crosslinked Biomolecular Condensates as a Versatile Platform for Multifunctional Protein Microparticles.Biomacromolecules · 2025Article
- Of condensates and coats - reciprocal regulation of clathrin assembly and the growth of protein networks.Nature communications · 2025Article
- POMPOMS: Crosslinked biomolecular condensates as a versatile platform for multifunctional protein microparticles.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Sequence-based prediction of condensate composition reveals that specificity can emerge from multivalent interactions among disordered regions.Communications chemistry · 2025Article
- Sequence-encoded interactions program internal condensate architecture.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Multiphasic Organization and Differential Dynamics of Proteins within Protein-DNA Biomolecular Condensates.The journal of physical chemistry. B · 2025Article
- Amphiphilic Protein Surfactants Reduce the Interfacial Tension of Biomolecular Condensates.Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids · 2025Article
6 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Cells contain membraneless compartments that assemble due to liquid-liquid phase separation, including biomolecular condensates with complex morphologies. For instance, certain condensates are surrounded by a film of distinct composition, such as Ape1 condensates coated by a layer of Atg19, required for selective autophagy in yeast. Other condensates are multiphasic, with nested liquid phases of distinct compositions and functions, such as in the case of ribosome biogenesis in the nucleolus. The size and structure of such condensates must be regulated for proper biological function. We leveraged a bioinspired approach to discover how amphiphilic, surfactant-like proteins may contribute to the structure and size regulation of biomolecular condensates. We designed and examined families of amphiphilic proteins comprising one phase-separating domain and one non-phase-separating domain. In particular, these proteins contain the soluble structured domain glutathione S-transferase (GST) or maltose binding protein (MBP), fused to the intrinsically disordered RGG domain from P granule protein LAF-1. When one amphiphilic protein is mixed in vitro with RGG-RGG, the proteins assemble into enveloped condensates, with RGG-RGG at the core and the amphiphilic protein forming the surface film layer. Importantly, we found that MBP-based amphiphiles are surfactants and influence droplet size, with increasing surfactant concentration resulting in smaller droplet radii. In contrast, GST-based amphiphiles at increased concentrations coassemble with RGG-RGG into multiphasic structures. We propose a mechanism for these experimental observations, supported by molecular simulations of a minimalist model. We speculate that surfactant proteins may play a significant role in regulating the structure and function of biomolecular condensates.
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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.