Skip to main content
Journal cover image

Protein Phase Separation Arising from Intrinsic Disorder: First-Principles to Bespoke Applications.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Shapiro, DM; Ney, M; Eghtesadi, SA; Chilkoti, A
Published in: The journal of physical chemistry. B
July 2021

The phase separation of biomolecules has become the focus of intense research in the past decade, with a growing body of research implicating this phenomenon in essentially all biological functions, including but not limited to homeostasis, stress responses, gene regulation, cell differentiation, and disease. Excellent reviews have been published previously on the underlying physical basis of liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of biological molecules (Nat. Phys.2015, 11, 899-904) and LLPS as it occurs natively in physiology and disease (Science2017, 357, eaaf4382; Biochemistry2018, 57, 2479-2487; Chem. Rev.2014, 114, 6844-6879). Here, we review how the theoretical physical basis of LLPS has been used to better understand the behavior of biomolecules that undergo LLPS in natural systems and how this understanding has also led to the development of novel synthetic systems that exhibit biomolecular phase separation, and technologies that exploit these phenomena. In part 1 of this Review, we explore the theory behind the phase separation of biomolecules and synthetic macromolecules and introduce a few notable phase-separating biomolecules. In part 2, we cover experimental and computational methods used to study phase-separating proteins and how these techniques have uncovered the mechanisms underlying phase separation in physiology and disease. Finally, in part 3, we cover the development and applications of engineered phase-separating polypeptides, ranging from control of their self-assembly to create defined supramolecular architectures to reprogramming biological processes using engineered IDPs that exhibit LLPS.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

The journal of physical chemistry. B

DOI

EISSN

1520-5207

ISSN

1520-6106

Publication Date

July 2021

Volume

125

Issue

25

Start / End Page

6740 / 6759

Related Subject Headings

  • Proteins
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • 51 Physical sciences
  • 40 Engineering
  • 34 Chemical sciences
  • 09 Engineering
  • 03 Chemical Sciences
  • 02 Physical Sciences
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Shapiro, D. M., Ney, M., Eghtesadi, S. A., & Chilkoti, A. (2021). Protein Phase Separation Arising from Intrinsic Disorder: First-Principles to Bespoke Applications. The Journal of Physical Chemistry. B, 125(25), 6740–6759. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c01146
Shapiro, Daniel Mark, Max Ney, Seyed Ali Eghtesadi, and Ashutosh Chilkoti. “Protein Phase Separation Arising from Intrinsic Disorder: First-Principles to Bespoke Applications.The Journal of Physical Chemistry. B 125, no. 25 (July 2021): 6740–59. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c01146.
Shapiro DM, Ney M, Eghtesadi SA, Chilkoti A. Protein Phase Separation Arising from Intrinsic Disorder: First-Principles to Bespoke Applications. The journal of physical chemistry B. 2021 Jul;125(25):6740–59.
Shapiro, Daniel Mark, et al. “Protein Phase Separation Arising from Intrinsic Disorder: First-Principles to Bespoke Applications.The Journal of Physical Chemistry. B, vol. 125, no. 25, July 2021, pp. 6740–59. Epmc, doi:10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c01146.
Shapiro DM, Ney M, Eghtesadi SA, Chilkoti A. Protein Phase Separation Arising from Intrinsic Disorder: First-Principles to Bespoke Applications. The journal of physical chemistry B. 2021 Jul;125(25):6740–6759.
Journal cover image

Published In

The journal of physical chemistry. B

DOI

EISSN

1520-5207

ISSN

1520-6106

Publication Date

July 2021

Volume

125

Issue

25

Start / End Page

6740 / 6759

Related Subject Headings

  • Proteins
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • 51 Physical sciences
  • 40 Engineering
  • 34 Chemical sciences
  • 09 Engineering
  • 03 Chemical Sciences
  • 02 Physical Sciences