Open access
Date
2020-12Type
- Review Article
Abstract
Over the past years, liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) has emerged as a ubiquitous principle of cellular organization implicated in many biological processes ranging from gene expression to cell division. The formation of biological condensates, like the nucleolus or stress granules, by LLPS is at its core a thermodynamic equilibrium process. However, life does not operate at equilibrium, and cells have evolved multiple strategies to keep condensates in a non-equilibrium state. In this review, we discuss how these non-equilibrium drivers counteract solidification and potentially detrimental aggregation, and at the same time enable biological condensates to perform work and control the flux of substrates and information in a spatial and temporal manner. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000454411Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
Emerging Topics in Life SciencesVolume
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
Portland PressOrganisational unit
09464 - Weis, Karsten / Weis, Karsten
Funding
159731 - Structure and Function of the Nuclear Pore Complex (SNF)
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