Jeon, ChanilHyeon, ChangbongJung, YoungkyunHa, Bae-Yeun2017-11-072017-11-072016-10-21http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c6sm01924bhttp://hdl.handle.net/10012/12616In 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.enEscherichia-Coli ChromosomeRna-PolymerasePhysiological ConsequencesBacterial ChromosomesDynamics SimulationRing PolymerConfinementDnaTranscriptionInteractArticle