This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Macromolecular crowding can serve as a design tool for controlling the formation and organization of synthetic DNA droplets, a study from Science Tokyo reveals. Researchers investigated this strategy using DNA nanostars and polymeric crowding agents to mimic the crowded cellular environment.
They found that crowding promoted droplet formation and enabled control over droplet size, interactions and organization. The findings could support the development of programmable artificial cell systems. Biomolecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids, can gather into concentrated regions called biomolecular condensates.
These condensates regulate various cellular processes. However, the cell interior is also crowded with other macromolecules that can influence the properties of biomolecular condensates. Therefore, researchers are interested in understanding how this crowded environment, exhibiting a phenomenon known as macromolecular crowding, affects the formation, stability and organization of these droplets.
Scientists from the Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo), Japan, have investigated this aspect using synthetic Y-shaped branched DNA nanostructures called DNA nanostars, which self-assemble into liquid-like DNA droplets. They created a molecularly crowded environment that mimics the interior of a living cell using polymeric crowding agents and examined how this environment affected the formation, stability and organization of these DNA droplets. The study was led by professor Masahiro Takinoue, together with graduate student Naoki C.
Yoshida from Science Tokyo (at the time of the study), Dr. Mayu Shono at The University of Tokyo, Japan, and professor Kenichi Yoshikawa of Doshisha University, Japan. This paper is published in the journal JACS Au.
"We provide a new design strategy for constructing sophisticated artificial cell architectures and molecular networks based on programmable self-organization," says Takinoue. Nanostars connect through short complementary DNA sequences called sticky ends. As the nanostars interact with one another, they can undergo liquid–liquid phase separation, producing a concentrated, liquid-like DNA phase that appears as droplets.
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