1. Impact of Macromolecular Crowding and Compression on Protein–Protein Interactions and Liquid–Liquid Phase Separation Phenomena
- Author
-
Mimi Gao, Mirko Elbers, Jan Latarius, Karin Julius, Michael Paulus, Roland Winter, Metin Tolan, and Jonathan Weine
- Subjects
chemistry.chemical_classification ,Phase boundary ,Polymers and Plastics ,Organic Chemistry ,Intermolecular force ,02 engineering and technology ,Polyethylene glycol ,Polymer ,010402 general chemistry ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,01 natural sciences ,0104 chemical sciences ,Inorganic Chemistry ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,chemistry ,Chemical physics ,Phase (matter) ,PEG ratio ,Materials Chemistry ,Molecule ,0210 nano-technology ,Macromolecular crowding - Abstract
We determined the intermolecular interaction potential, V(r), of dense lysozyme solutions, which governs the spatial distribution of the protein molecules and the location of its liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) region, in various crowding environments applying small-angle X-ray scattering in combination with liquid-state theory. We explored the effect of polyethylene glycol (PEG) on V(r) and the protein’s phase behavior over a wide range of temperatures and pressures, crossing from the dilute to the semidilute polymer regime, thereby mimicking all crowding scenarios encountered in the heterogeneous biological cell. V(r) and hence the protein–protein distances and the phase boundary of the LLPS region strongly depend on the polymer-to-protein size ratio and the polymer concentration. The strongest effect is observed for small-sized PEG molecules, leading to a marked decrease of the mean intermolecular spacing of the protein molecules with increasing crowder concentration. The effect levels off at int...
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF