In a first for the condensate field, researchers have figured out how nucleolar sub-structures are assembled. This organization gives rise to unique pH profiles within nucleoli, which they measured and compared with the pH of nearby non-nucleolar condensates including nuclear speckles and Cajal bodies.
Scientists trying to understand the physical and chemical properties that govern biomolecular condensates now have a crucial way to measure pH and other emergent properties of these enigmatic, albeit important cellular compartments.
In a first for the condensate field, researchers from the lab of Rohit Pappu, the Gene K. Beare Distinguished Professor of biomedical engineering, and colleagues in the Center for Biomolecular Condensates in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, figured out how nucleolar sub-structures are assembled.
Condensates form via a process that the team now refers to as condensation. This combines phase separation -- think demixing of oil and water -- and sticky interactions among molecules that like to bind with one another. Differentials in pH between condensates and the surrounding nucleoplasm generate gradients and"a pH gradient generates what is known as a proton motive force," King said.
According to Pappu, this work"provides an elegant solution to the challenge that many biochemists see for the condensate concept."
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