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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. Lipiński¹, 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.