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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 12: Focus Phase Separation in Biological Systems II (joint session BP/CPP)
CPP 12.4: Talk
Tuesday, March 23, 2021, 15:10–15:30, BPb
Slowing down protein aggregation in liquid compartments — •Wojciech P. LipiĆski1, Brent Visser1, Mireille Claessens2, Mohammad A. A. Fakhree2, Saskia Lindhoud3, and Evan Spruijt1 — 1Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands — 2Nanobiophysics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands — 3Molecular Nanofabrication, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands
With increasing life expectancy in modern societies, amyloid-related diseases are becoming alarmingly common. Extensive work has been done to investigate the kinetics of amyloid formation and the structure of aggregates. Recently it has been suggested that protein aggregation can be influenced by the presence of membraneless organelles. Aggregation-prone proteins may be sequestered by liquid compartments, leading to significant changes in concentration and altered aggregation kinetics.
Here, we present a combined computational and experimental study of the fate of aggregation-prone proteins that are sequestered by liquid droplets. We investigated computationally the influence of varying parameters describing aggregation and transport processes and showed that aggregation process can be either accelerated or inhibited by the presence of liquid compartments. Motivated by these findings we have undertaken efforts to develop experimental systems exhibiting diversified influence of the phase-separated environment on the protein aggregation process.