In cells, there are numerous compartments, including membranous organelles and membraneless organelles, providing localization/isolation of biomolecules, and favorable conditions for bioreactions. While both kinds of organelles are crucial in aspects of cellular life, the interactions between them have not yet been extensively studied. For instance, receptor clustering, which is an example of membraneless organelles taking place at the cellular membrane, functions in the signaling transduction and downstream assembly of actin filaments. However, the mechanism of how they interact and how their presences influence each other mostly remain unknown. Therefore, my research focuses on exploring and investigating the interactions between membranous and membraneless organelles. Herein, we have developed a simpler system using coacervates, a model of membraneless organelles, as a template for lipid self-assembly in order to study the interactions between lipid membranes and coacervates. This presentation will discuss that the presence of coacervates impacts the membrane morphology, fluidity, and permeability. Moreover, the spontaneous assembly of lipids at interfaces of coacervate microdroplets results in a novel protocell model that possesses a lipid bilayer membrane surrounding structure and cytoplasm-like macromolecular crowded interior.

Investigation of lipid self-assembly in the presence of liquid-liquid phase separation

ACS Spring 2022

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