How are molecular crowding and the spatial organization of a biopolymer interrelated
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Date
2016-10-21
Authors
Jeon, Chanil
Hyeon, Changbong
Jung, Youngkyun
Ha, Bae-Yeun
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry
Abstract
In a crowded cellular interior, dissolved biomolecules or crowders exert excluded volume effects on other biomolecules, which in turn control various processes including protein aggregation and chromosome organization. As a result of these effects, a long chain molecule can be phase-separated into a condensed state, redistributing the surrounding crowders. Using computer simulations and a theoretical approach, we study the interrelationship between molecular crowding and chain organization. In a parameter space of biological relevance, the distributions of monomers and crowders follow a simple relationship: the sum of their volume fractions rescaled by their size remains constant. Beyond a physical picture of molecular crowding it offers, this finding explains a few key features of what has been known about chromosome organization in an E. coli cell.
Description
Keywords
Escherichia-Coli Chromosome, Rna-Polymerase, Physiological Consequences, Bacterial Chromosomes, Dynamics Simulation, Ring Polymer, Confinement, Dna, Transcription, Interact