How does cytoplasmic crowding affect reaction rates?

Jo-Hsi Huang, James E Ferrell

Abstract readReview

In one paragraph

Review in Molecular cell, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

1citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

Mechanics of compression-driven morphogenesis.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2026
Review

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Jo-Hsi HuangDepartment of Chemical and Systems Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

James E FerrellDepartment of Chemical and Systems Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Electronic address: james.ferrell@stanford.edu.

Funding

Cytoplasmic organization and systems-level function in Xenopus extractsR35GM131792 · NIGMS · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · PI JAMES E. FERRELL · 2019 to 2026

$5.6M

NIGMS NIH HHS R35 GM131792

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells is crowded with macromolecules. In principle, this crowding could have either a positive or a negative effect on the rates of biochemical reactions. Here, we review two commonly invoked theories to account for these possible effects then survey recent experimental work in cells and extracts that measures the effects. The evidence so far suggests that the effective second-order rate constants (a measure of the speed of a reaction for a given concentration of reactants) for reactions in vivo generally go down when crowding increases due to the slowing of diffusion. If the evidence presented so far proves to be general, it would have important implications for how we view the trade-offs that determine the biochemical dynamics of the cytoplasm.

Indexed as

CytoplasmEukaryotic CellsMacromolecular SubstancesAnimalsDiffusionHumansKineticsModels, BiologicalMacromolecular Substancesdiffusionexcluded volumein vivo biochemistrymolecular crowdingPhillies’s lawrate constantsscaled-particle theory

Identifiers

PMID41475345

DOI10.1016/j.molcel.2025.12.007

PMCPMC12999154

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Registered trials

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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.