Regensburg 2025 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 9: Biomaterials, Biopolymers and Bioinspired Functional Materials II (joint session CPP/BP)

BP 9.1: Vortrag

Montag, 17. März 2025, 17:00–17:15, H46

Polymer Assisted Condensation and Heterochromatin — •Jens-Uwe Sommer — Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden (IPF), Hohe Straße 6, 01069 Dresden, Germany — TU Dresden, Insitut für Theoretische Physik, Zellescher Weg 17, D-01069 Dresden, Germany

Many biomolecular condensates are formed through the co-condensation of proteins and polynucleotides. In most cases, the proteins that constitute the majority of the condensate exhibit a miscibility gap in aqueous solution at elevated concentrations in vitro. Recently, we published the theory of Polymer-Assisted Condensation (PAC), which predicts the formation of the condensate within the polymer’s volume of gyration, where interactions with the three-dimensional conformation of the polymer trigger the phase transition of the protein component [1]. A key feature of these liquid condensates is their robustness against changes in parameters, as well as the dominant role played by the condensation free energy of the protein component. The formation and properties of heterochromatin, a genetically silenced region of eukaryotic chromosomes, can be explained by PAC, which resolves several issues present in previously published theories. Recently, we developed a field-theoretic approach to PAC to better understand the adsorption and desorption scenarios of heterochromatin at the nuclear lamina.

[1] J.-U. Sommer, H. Merlitz, and H. Schießel, Macromolecules 55, 4841 (2022); L. Haugk, H. Merlitz, and J.-U. Sommer, Macromolecules 57, 9476 (2024)

Keywords: phase separation; biomoleular condensates; heterochromatin