ORCID Profile
0000-0002-1580-8200
Current Organisation
Shenzhen University
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Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-05-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-021-23410-7
Abstract: The synthetic pathways of life’s building blocks are envisaged to be through a series of complex prebiotic reactions and processes. However, the strategy to compartmentalize and concentrate biopolymers under prebiotic conditions remains elusive. Liquid-liquid phase separation is a mechanism by which membraneless organelles form inside cells, and has been hypothesized as a potential mechanism for prebiotic compartmentalization. Associative phase separation of oppositely charged species has been shown to partition RNA, but the strongly negative charge exhibited by RNA suggests that RNA-polycation interactions could inhibit RNA folding and its functioning inside the coacervates. Here, we present a prebiotically plausible pathway for non-associative phase separation within an evaporating all-aqueous sessile droplet. We quantitatively investigate the kinetic pathway of phase separation triggered by the non-uniform evaporation rate, together with the Marangoni flow-driven hydrodynamics inside the sessile droplet. With the ability to undergo liquid-liquid phase separation, the drying droplets provide a robust mechanism for formation of prebiotic membraneless compartments, as demonstrated by localization and storage of nucleic acids, in vitro transcription, as well as a three-fold enhancement of ribozyme activity. The compartmentalization mechanism illustrated in this model system is feasible on wet organophilic silica-rich surfaces during early molecular evolution.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-11-2022
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-022-34368-5
Abstract: The solutal Marangoni effect is attracting increasing interest because of its fundamental role in many isothermal directional transport processes in fluids, including the Marangoni-driven spreading on liquid surfaces or Marangoni convection within a liquid. Here we report a type of continuous Marangoni transport process resulting from Marangoni-driven spreading and Marangoni convection in an aqueous two-phase system. The interaction between a salt (CaCl 2 ) and an anionic surfactant (sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate) generates surface tension gradients, which drive the transport process. This Marangoni transport consists of the upward transfer of a filament from a droplet located at the bottom of a bulk solution, coiling of the filament near the surface, and formation of Fermat’s spiral patterns on the surface. The bottom-up coiling of the filament, driven by Marangoni convection, may inspire automatic fiber fabrication.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-11-2022
Abstract: Living cells comprise erse subcellular structures, such as cytoskeletal networks, which can regulate essential cellular activities through dynamic assembly and synergistic interactions with biomolecular condensates. Despite extensive efforts, reproducing viscoelastic networks for modulating biomolecular condensates in synthetic systems remains challenging. Here, a new aqueous two‐phase system (ATPS) is proposed, which consists of poly( N ‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) and dextran (DEX), to construct viscoelastic networks capable of being assembled and dissociated dynamically to regulate the self‐assembly of condensates on‐demand. Viscoelastic networks are generated using liquid–liquid phase‐separated DEX droplets as templates and the following liquid‐to‐solid transition of the PNIPAM‐rich phase. The resulting networks can dissolve liquid fused in sarcoma (FUS) condensates within 5 min. This work demonstrates rich phase‐separation behaviors in a single ATPS through incorporating stimuli‐responsive polymers. The concept can potentially be applied to other macromolecules through other stimuli to develop materials with rich phase behaviors and hierarchical structures.
Location: Hong Kong
No related grants have been discovered for Yage Zhang.