Phase separation and the centrosome: a fait accompli?
There is currently intense interest in the idea that many membraneless organelles might assemble through phase separation of their constituent molecules into biomolecular 'condensates' that have liquid-like properties. This idea is intuitively appealing, especially for complex organelles s...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2019
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| _version_ | 1826287834748682240 |
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| author | Raff, J |
| author_facet | Raff, J |
| author_sort | Raff, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | There is currently intense interest in the idea that many membraneless organelles might assemble through phase separation of their constituent molecules into biomolecular 'condensates' that have liquid-like properties. This idea is intuitively appealing, especially for complex organelles such as centrosomes, where a liquid-like structure would allow the many constituent molecules to diffuse and interact with one another efficiently. I discuss here recent studies that either support the concept of a liquid-like centrosome or suggest that centrosomes are assembled upon a more solid, stable scaffold. I suggest that it may be difficult to distinguish between these possibilities. I argue that the concept of biomolecular condensates is an important advance in cell biology, with potentially wide-ranging implications, but it seems premature to conclude that centrosomes, and perhaps other membraneless organelles, are necessarily best described as liquid-like phase-separated condensates. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T02:04:36Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:9e8935ac-f6a3-4c39-9944-62ae48f62592 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T02:04:36Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:9e8935ac-f6a3-4c39-9944-62ae48f625922022-03-27T00:50:53ZPhase separation and the centrosome: a fait accompli?Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:9e8935ac-f6a3-4c39-9944-62ae48f62592EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordElsevier2019Raff, JThere is currently intense interest in the idea that many membraneless organelles might assemble through phase separation of their constituent molecules into biomolecular 'condensates' that have liquid-like properties. This idea is intuitively appealing, especially for complex organelles such as centrosomes, where a liquid-like structure would allow the many constituent molecules to diffuse and interact with one another efficiently. I discuss here recent studies that either support the concept of a liquid-like centrosome or suggest that centrosomes are assembled upon a more solid, stable scaffold. I suggest that it may be difficult to distinguish between these possibilities. I argue that the concept of biomolecular condensates is an important advance in cell biology, with potentially wide-ranging implications, but it seems premature to conclude that centrosomes, and perhaps other membraneless organelles, are necessarily best described as liquid-like phase-separated condensates. |
| spellingShingle | Raff, J Phase separation and the centrosome: a fait accompli? |
| title | Phase separation and the centrosome: a fait accompli? |
| title_full | Phase separation and the centrosome: a fait accompli? |
| title_fullStr | Phase separation and the centrosome: a fait accompli? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Phase separation and the centrosome: a fait accompli? |
| title_short | Phase separation and the centrosome: a fait accompli? |
| title_sort | phase separation and the centrosome a fait accompli |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT raffj phaseseparationandthecentrosomeafaitaccompli |