Berlin 2024 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 21: Poster IIIb

BP 21.14: Poster

Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 11:00–14:30, Poster C

Computational Approaches to Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation of Partially Disordered RS-Proteins — •Yannick Witzky¹, Arash Nikoubashman^1,2,3, and Friederike Schmid¹ — ¹Institute of Physics, JGU Mainz, Germany — ²Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung, Dresden, Germany — ³Institut für Theoretische Physik, TU Dresden, Germany

RS-proteins are RNA binding proteins that shape photomorphogenesis in plants by regulating alternative splicing events. Their light dependent appearance within nuclear speckles connects this alternative splicing function to their likely ability to induce or take part in liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS). These divergent tasks of specific RNA binding and LLPS are reflected by the dual composition of RS proteins: folded domains, that contain the functionally important RNA binding sites, are complemented by intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) which are common players in LLPS. To study the influence of the highly charged IDRs and the post translational phosphorylation of their amino acids on LLPS, we use replica exchange molecular dynamics with common IDP models [1,2] for enhanced sampling.

[1] Tesei et al. (2022) Open Research Europe, 2(94), 94. [2] Rizuan et al. (2022) J Chem Inf Model 62(18), 4474-4485.

Keywords: Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation; IDPs; Replica exchange molecular dynamics; HPS; Phosphorylation