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Dynamics of Synthetic Membraneless Organelles in Microfluidic Droplets
Author(s) -
Linsenmeier Miriam,
Kopp Marie R. G.,
Grigolato Fulvio,
Emmanoulidis Leonidas,
Liu Dany,
Zürcher Dominik,
Hondele Maria,
Weis Karsten,
Capasso Palmiero Umberto,
Arosio Paolo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201907278
Subject(s) - organelle , microfluidics , coalescence (physics) , nucleation , nanotechnology , biophysics , chemistry , materials science , physics , biology , biochemistry , organic chemistry , astrobiology
Cells can form membraneless organelles by liquid–liquid phase separation. As these organelles are highly dynamic, it is crucial to understand the kinetics of these phase transitions. Here, we use droplet‐based microfluidics to mix reagents by chaotic advection and observe nucleation, growth, and coarsening in volumes comparable to cells (pL) and on timescales of seconds. We apply this platform to analyze the dynamics of synthetic organelles formed by the DEAD‐box ATPase Dhh1 and RNA, which are associated with the formation of processing bodies in yeast. We show that the timescale of phase separation decreases linearly as the volume of the compartment increases. Moreover, the synthetic organelles coarsen into one single droplet via gravity‐induced coalescence, which can be arrested by introducing a hydrogel matrix that mimics the cytoskeleton. This approach is an attractive platform to investigate the dynamics of compartmentalization in artificial cells.