ArticleNature communications2022
The material properties of a bacterial-derived biomolecular condensate tune biological function in natural and synthetic systems.
Article in Nature communications, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 85 papers.
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Who cites it
85 citing papers in PubMed, 126 citations in OpenAlex.
- Unlocking the bacterial condensome: from "dark matter" to design.Molecular biology of the cell · 2026Article
- Directed evolution of functional intrinsically disordered proteins.Nature chemical biology · 2026Article
- Kinase condensates enrich ATP and trigger autophosphorylation.Cell reports · 2026Article
- Adhesion-derived condensates control component availability to regulate adhesion dynamics.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Article
- A tunable aqueous architecture modulates functional output in biomolecular condensates.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Article
- Review
- The dynamic and heterogeneous composition of biomolecular condensates and its functional relevance.Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology · 2026Review
- The filamentous ultrastructure of the PopZ condensate is required for its cellular function.Nature structural & molecular biology · 2026Article
- Structural and functional implications of phase separation of membrane protein LacY in Escherichia coli.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Partition Coefficients Reveal Changes in Properties of Low-Contrast Biomolecular Condensates.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Sticky interactions govern sequence-dependent dynamics in biomolecular condensates.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Polymerization-mediated SRFR1 condensation in upper lateral root cap cells regulates root growth.The Plant cell · 2026Article
- Biomolecular Condensates Can Induce Local Membrane Potentials.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- Looking at bacterial cell poles from a liquid-liquid phase separation of intrinsically disordered proteins perspective.Current research in structural biology · 2025Article
- TssW-PpkA-Fha axis controls the positioning and initiation of the type VI secretion system inmBio · 2025Article
- Phosphorylation of a conserved intrinsically disordered region is necessary for activation of a bacterial Hanks-type Ser/Thr kinase signaling pathway.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- BR-bodies facilitate adaptive responses and survival during copper stress in Caulobacter crescentus.The Journal of biological chemistry · 2025Article
- Accurate prediction of thermoresponsive phase behavior of disordered proteins.Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society · 2025Article
25 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 8 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Intracellular phase separation is emerging as a universal principle for organizing biochemical reactions in time and space. It remains incompletely resolved how biological function is encoded in these assemblies and whether this depends on their material state. The conserved intrinsically disordered protein PopZ forms condensates at the poles of the bacterium Caulobacter crescentus, which in turn orchestrate cell-cycle regulating signaling cascades. Here we show that the material properties of these condensates are determined by a balance between attractive and repulsive forces mediated by a helical oligomerization domain and an expanded disordered region, respectively. A series of PopZ mutants disrupting this balance results in condensates that span the material properties spectrum, from liquid to solid. A narrow range of condensate material properties supports proper cell division, linking emergent properties to organismal fitness. We use these insights to repurpose PopZ as a modular platform for generating tunable synthetic condensates in human cells.
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