Emerging field of synthetic condensates isolates or traps together biomolecules to control cellular processes. Biomedical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated a new synthetic approach to controlling cellular biochemical processes. Rather than creating particles or structures that direct
Duke University biomedical engineers have developed a new synthetic method for controlling cellular processes. The approach involves directing cells to build compartments that regulate biomolecular functions, rather than directly interacting with cellular machinery. This method can impact genetic instructions spreading among bacteria and protein circuits in mammalian cells, potentially leading to new strategies for understanding and combating disease and antibiotic resistant pathogens.
The researchers demonstrate that their approach can affect two cellular processes, one responsible for spreading genetic instructions amongst bacteria and the other for modulating protein circuits in mammalian cells. The results could prove invaluable to developing new strategies to understand and fight disease or to stop the spread of antibiotic resistant pathogens.
Biological micromachinery generally relies on so-called “lock and key” mechanisms, where a protein, genetic strand or other biomolecule is just the right shape and size to interact with its target structure. Because these are the easiest and most obvious processes to study and recreate, nearly all biomedical research has been focused on its vast, complex web of machinery.
“To me, what’s most remarkable is the effectiveness of the rules emerging from past studies in guiding the rational engineering of the physical properties of these condensates, which in turn work effectively in living cells despite the many confounding factors associated with the intracellular environment,” Lingchong You said.
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