Ribozyme activity modulates the physical properties of RNA–peptide coacervates
Condensed coacervate phases are now understood to be important features of modern cell biology, as well as valuable protocellular models in origin-of-life studies and synthetic biology. In each of these fields, the development of model systems with varied and tuneable material properties is of great...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2023-06-01
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| Series: | eLife |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/83543 |
| _version_ | 1797791510880583680 |
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| author | Kristian Kyle Le Vay Elia Salibi Basusree Ghosh TY Dora Tang Hannes Mutschler |
| author_facet | Kristian Kyle Le Vay Elia Salibi Basusree Ghosh TY Dora Tang Hannes Mutschler |
| author_sort | Kristian Kyle Le Vay |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Condensed coacervate phases are now understood to be important features of modern cell biology, as well as valuable protocellular models in origin-of-life studies and synthetic biology. In each of these fields, the development of model systems with varied and tuneable material properties is of great importance for replicating properties of life. Here, we develop a ligase ribozyme system capable of concatenating short RNA fragments into long chains. Our results show that the formation of coacervate microdroplets with the ligase ribozyme and poly(L-lysine) enhances ribozyme rate and yield, which in turn increases the length of the anionic polymer component of the system and imparts specific physical properties to the droplets. Droplets containing active ribozyme sequences resist growth, do not wet or spread on unpassivated surfaces, and exhibit reduced transfer of RNA between droplets when compared to controls containing inactive sequences. These altered behaviours, which stem from RNA sequence and catalytic activity, constitute a specific phenotype and potential fitness advantage, opening the door to selection and evolution experiments based on a genotype–phenotype linkage. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T02:19:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4855d398eb9a49c08c02741b3f99662d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T02:19:53Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-4855d398eb9a49c08c02741b3f99662d2023-06-30T10:29:41ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2023-06-011210.7554/eLife.83543Ribozyme activity modulates the physical properties of RNA–peptide coacervatesKristian Kyle Le Vay0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2455-8706Elia Salibi1https://orcid.org/0009-0003-8201-4237Basusree Ghosh2TY Dora Tang3Hannes Mutschler4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8005-1657Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, GermanyDepartment of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, GermanyMax-Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, GermanyMax-Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, GermanyDepartment of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, GermanyCondensed coacervate phases are now understood to be important features of modern cell biology, as well as valuable protocellular models in origin-of-life studies and synthetic biology. In each of these fields, the development of model systems with varied and tuneable material properties is of great importance for replicating properties of life. Here, we develop a ligase ribozyme system capable of concatenating short RNA fragments into long chains. Our results show that the formation of coacervate microdroplets with the ligase ribozyme and poly(L-lysine) enhances ribozyme rate and yield, which in turn increases the length of the anionic polymer component of the system and imparts specific physical properties to the droplets. Droplets containing active ribozyme sequences resist growth, do not wet or spread on unpassivated surfaces, and exhibit reduced transfer of RNA between droplets when compared to controls containing inactive sequences. These altered behaviours, which stem from RNA sequence and catalytic activity, constitute a specific phenotype and potential fitness advantage, opening the door to selection and evolution experiments based on a genotype–phenotype linkage.https://elifesciences.org/articles/83543ribozymecoacervatespeptideRNAphase separation |
| spellingShingle | Kristian Kyle Le Vay Elia Salibi Basusree Ghosh TY Dora Tang Hannes Mutschler Ribozyme activity modulates the physical properties of RNA–peptide coacervates eLife ribozyme coacervates peptide RNA phase separation |
| title | Ribozyme activity modulates the physical properties of RNA–peptide coacervates |
| title_full | Ribozyme activity modulates the physical properties of RNA–peptide coacervates |
| title_fullStr | Ribozyme activity modulates the physical properties of RNA–peptide coacervates |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ribozyme activity modulates the physical properties of RNA–peptide coacervates |
| title_short | Ribozyme activity modulates the physical properties of RNA–peptide coacervates |
| title_sort | ribozyme activity modulates the physical properties of rna peptide coacervates |
| topic | ribozyme coacervates peptide RNA phase separation |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/83543 |
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