Theory of rheology and aging of protein condensates

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Takaki, Ryota, Jawerth, Louise, Popović, Marko, Jülicher, Frank
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Takaki, Ryota
Jawerth, Louise
Popović, Marko
Jülicher, Frank
author_facet Takaki, Ryota
Jawerth, Louise
Popović, Marko
Jülicher, Frank
contents Biological condensates are assemblies of proteins and nucleic acids that form membraneless compartments in cells and play essential roles in cellular functions. In many cases they exhibit the physical properties of liquid droplets that coexist in a surrounding fluid. Recently, quantitative studies on the material properties of biological condensates have become available, revealing complex material properties. In vitro experiments have shown that protein condensates exhibit time dependent material properties, similar to aging in glasses. To understand this phenomenon from a theoretical perspective, we develop a rheological model based on the physical picture of protein diffusion and stochastic binding inside condensates. The complex nature of protein interactions is captured by a distribution of binding energies, incorporated in a trap model originally developed to study glass transitions. Our model can describe diffusion of constituent particles, as well as the material response to time-dependent forces, and it recapitulates the age dependent relaxation time of Maxwell glass observed experimentally both in active and passive rheology. We derive a generalized fluctuation-response relations of our model in which the relaxation function does not obey time translation invariance. Our study sheds light on the complex material properties of biological condensates and provides a theoretical framework for understanding their aging behavior.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2303_18028
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Theory of rheology and aging of protein condensates
Takaki, Ryota
Jawerth, Louise
Popović, Marko
Jülicher, Frank
Soft Condensed Matter
Biological Physics
Biological condensates are assemblies of proteins and nucleic acids that form membraneless compartments in cells and play essential roles in cellular functions. In many cases they exhibit the physical properties of liquid droplets that coexist in a surrounding fluid. Recently, quantitative studies on the material properties of biological condensates have become available, revealing complex material properties. In vitro experiments have shown that protein condensates exhibit time dependent material properties, similar to aging in glasses. To understand this phenomenon from a theoretical perspective, we develop a rheological model based on the physical picture of protein diffusion and stochastic binding inside condensates. The complex nature of protein interactions is captured by a distribution of binding energies, incorporated in a trap model originally developed to study glass transitions. Our model can describe diffusion of constituent particles, as well as the material response to time-dependent forces, and it recapitulates the age dependent relaxation time of Maxwell glass observed experimentally both in active and passive rheology. We derive a generalized fluctuation-response relations of our model in which the relaxation function does not obey time translation invariance. Our study sheds light on the complex material properties of biological condensates and provides a theoretical framework for understanding their aging behavior.
title Theory of rheology and aging of protein condensates
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Biological Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.18028