TY - JOUR
T1 - Mechanical Frustration of Phase Separation in the Cell Nucleus by Chromatin
AU - Zhang, Yaojun
AU - Lee, Daniel S.W.
AU - Meir, Yigal
AU - Brangwynne, Clifford P.
AU - Wingreen, Ned S.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Edgar Blokhuis and Ben Weiner for insightful suggestions. This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation, through the Center for the Physics of Biological Function (Grant No. PHY-1734030), the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (Grant No. DCE-1656466, D. S. W. L.), NIH Grants No. R01 GM082938, No. R01 GM140032, and No. U01 DA040601 and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Physical Society.
PY - 2021/6/25
Y1 - 2021/6/25
N2 - Liquid-liquid phase separation is a fundamental mechanism underlying subcellular organization. Motivated by the striking observation that optogenetically generated droplets in the nucleus display suppressed coarsening dynamics, we study the impact of chromatin mechanics on droplet phase separation. We combine theory and simulation to show that cross-linked chromatin can mechanically suppress droplets' coalescence and ripening, as well as quantitatively control their number, size, and placement. Our results highlight the role of the subcellular mechanical environment on condensate regulation.
AB - Liquid-liquid phase separation is a fundamental mechanism underlying subcellular organization. Motivated by the striking observation that optogenetically generated droplets in the nucleus display suppressed coarsening dynamics, we study the impact of chromatin mechanics on droplet phase separation. We combine theory and simulation to show that cross-linked chromatin can mechanically suppress droplets' coalescence and ripening, as well as quantitatively control their number, size, and placement. Our results highlight the role of the subcellular mechanical environment on condensate regulation.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.258102
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.258102
M3 - Article
C2 - 34241518
AN - SCOPUS:85108904714
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 126
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
IS - 25
M1 - 258102
ER -